EXTENSIVE VIEW OF THE CENTRAL FLOWERY NATIONS. 



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EXTENSIVE VIEW OF THE CENTRAL FLOWERY NATION. 








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GUIDE 



DESCRIPTIVE 



CATALOaUE 



CHINESE 



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MARLBORO' CHAPEL, 
BOSTON, 

With Miscellaneous Remarks upon the 
Government, History, Religions, Literature, 
Agriculture, Arts, Trades, Manners and 
Customs of the Chinese. 



BY JOHN R. PETERS, JR. 

To be had only at the Museum. 

BOSTON: 
1845. 

EASTBURN'S PRESS. 








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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by 

John R. Peters, Jr., 

(For the Proprietors of the Chinese Museum,) in the Clerk's Office of the 

District Court of Massachusetts. 















INTRODUCTION. 



Within a few years past, attention has been particu- 
larly directed towards China, by her war with En- 
gland, and since the conclusion of that war, the United 
States and other nations have hastened to make treat- 
ies with the Celestial Empire, by which, to put them- 
selves on a footing with the most favored. The zeal 
and enterprise of individuals have also been awakened. 
Christian communities are adding to the number of 
their Missionaries among this nation of idolaters, and 
merchants are flocking to the shores of China in pur- 

1 suit of gain. Many excellent works have been written 
on China, but in this reading age, books, periodicals 
and newspapers have become so multiplied, that sight, 

i as well as description is necessary to make a lasting 
impression upon the mind. As information is now 
eagerly sought after, concerning China and its hundreds 
of milhons of inhabitants, this collection and the accom- 
panying guide have been made to furnish it. The col- 
lection was formed without reference to labor or ex- 
pense, and with the aid of Chinese, and of the Ameri- 
can Missionaries, who have resided a long time in the 
country, and who are well acquainted with the lan- 

1 guage, manners and customs of this curious people. 
In making the guide, the best works on the subject 



4 

have been consulted, and in most instances the infor- 
mation derived from them is presented in a condensed 
form. Among the works used, may be mentioned the 
Chinese Repository, Dr. Bridgman's Chrestomathy, and 
the works of Medhurst, Davis, Barrow, Staunton, Tim- 
kowski, Kidd, and Gutzlaff, as the principal ones to 
which this work is indebted. 

JOHN R, PETERS, Jr. 

August 15, 1845, 



General view of the entrance and interior of the 
Museum. 

The entrance to the Chinese Museum, as fitted up 
in the large hall in the Marlboro' Chapel, is made to 
represent the entrance to a Chinese Jos house or tem- 
ple. Across the whole front, above the door-way, 
extends a beautiful carved, lacquered and gilt cornice, 
called by the Chinese, " Um-Yum." Beneath this, in 
the centre, is suspended the " Tsoi-moon " or " Lucky 
door," a fanciful shaped frame divided in panels, richly 
carved and finished with gold and lacquer. On either 
side of the " Tsoi-moon " is suspended an enormous 
lantern covered with paintings of the Chinese dragon. 
Over the door is an inscription in large, golden charac- 
ters, reading from right to left as follows : " Choong- 
wa-tie-Koon," or in English, " An extensive view of 
the central flowery nation." On the sides of the door 
are suspended two tablets with the following characters 
upon them, reading downwards and beginning with the 
one on the right, viz : " Een-tsze-chaow-shy-hum-wy- 
gni." "Mow-tsze-eeu-yon-she-maw-laaung." A Chi- 
nese aphorism. A free translation of which is, " Words 
may deceive, but the eye cannot play the rogue." 

By turning to the left in ascending the stairway, the 
visitor will find the cases numbered around the room in 
regular order as in the catalogue, the small cases being 
numbered last. 

As much of this large collection as the hall, which is 
one hundred feet deep by seventy feet wide, will accom- 
modate, has been arranged. The two sides, the extreme 
end and the middle, are occupied by large cases, which, 



with the exception of one, contain groups of figures of 
the full size of life, likenesses of individual Chinese, 
dressed in the costumes appropriate to the situations 
and employments in which they are represented. Two 
of the cases are fac similes of occupied rooms, com- 
pletely, but differently furnished, in the houses of a 
wealthy person. Another case is a complete represen- 
tation of a Chinese store with the merchant, his assist- 
ants, a purchaser, &c. 

Between the large middle and side cases, many 
smaller ones are arranged, containing models of houses, 
bridges, vessels, &c., and others containing an immense 
number of specimens of Chinese arts and manufacture, 
articles esteemed curiosities by the Chinese themselves, 
beautiful specimens of their curious and wonderful art of 
carving in ivory, sandal wood, tortoise shell, stone, &c. 
Also many articles of food peculiar to them, as birds' 
nests, sea slugs, sharks' fins and others. 

The end of the room at the entrance is covered with 
a large and beautiful collection of Chinese paintings in 
oil and water colors, consisting of landscapes, portraits 
of Mandarins, and Hong merchants, views of the differ- 
ent processes of manufacturing porcelain, silk and cot- 
ton, raising and curing tea and rice, and a great variety 
of others. 

The ceiHng is covered with a great number of lan- 
terns suspended from it, many of them of beautiful 
construction and materials, and others, the forms of 
which could hardly originate in any other than the dis- 
torted fancy of a Chinese. 

The Museum is exclusively Chinese, collected from 
all parts of the Empire, and with the aid of the descrip- 
tive catalogue or guide will give the visitor a better 
knowledge of this curious people than can be acquired 
by reading the most faithful descriptions alone, or even 
by Ei transient visit to ChipEi, 



There is only one other Museum of this kind in the 
world ; which is that brought from China, by the late 
j Mr. Dunn, of Philadelphia, who resided in the " Ce- 
lestial Empire" for a number of years. His Museum 
was opened in Philadelphia in 1839, and exhibited for 
a few months and then removed to London, where it 
now remains. 

To make the Museum still more attractive there are 
three Chinese attached to it, one of whom " T'sow- 
Chaoong," speaks English, and is ready to give visitors 
' b> any information in his power. "Le-Kaw-hing," or 
> Professor " Kaw-hing" was a teacher of music in his 

native land, but having acquired the habit of smoking 
opium and not being able to give it up while there, 
left his country for that purpose and has succeeded in 
his undertaking. He will occasionally favor visitors 
with a Chinese song, accompanying himself on some 
of his original and curious instruments. 



CASE I. 

No. 1 . The Emperor Taou Kwang, (reasons glory.) 
2. Mandarin of the first rank. 
S. Mandarin of the second rank. 

4. Mandarin of the third rank. 

5. Mandarin of the fourth rank. 

6. Military Mandarin of the fifth rank. 

7. Military Mandarin of the sixth rank. 
Magnificent embroidered satin screen suspended 

on the wall. 

View of the great wall of China through the door- 
way on the right. 

View on the left of part of one of the ancient Im- 
perial palaces on the island of Tseaou-shan in 
the Yang-tsz-Keang near Nanking. 

This case contains a figure of the Emperor, six Man- 
darins of the highest grades, and a beautiful embroid- 
ered red satin screen. 

The figures are clothed in the splendidly embroidered 
satin state dresses worn only at court or upon the most 
solemn occasions. 

In the head of His Imperial Majesty we have an ad- 
mirable likeness of His High Commissioner Keying, 
who is said to bear a strong resemblance to him, and 
has had the honor to negotiate all the late treaties made 
by the Celestial Empire with foreign nations. 

The " Son of Heaven," or " Ten thousand years," 
as his titles read, clothed in the richest embroidered Im- 
perial yellow, which his subjects may not wear, and 
seated in the dragon chair of state, upon which a libe- 
ral number of heads of this fabulous animal stand con- 
spicuous, has just affixed the vermillion pencil ratifying 



10 

the treaty between China and the United States, pre- 
sented by one of his counsellors. 

The four Mandarins standing in front with their 
heads respectfully covered according to Chinese eti- 
quette, which is the opposite to ours in many respects, 
are of the four highest grades in the empire ; this is 
also the number of the chief officers of the Imperial 
Council, two of whom are Tartars and two Chinese, 
who serve as a communication between the Emperor 
and the different boards of civil office, revenue, rites, 
war, &c., having charge of the affairs of the Empire. 

The Military Mandarins standing a little in the rear 
of His Majesty, as body guards, are of the fifth and 
sixth grades. 

Each figure in this case has a string of court beads 
about the neck, part of which consists of a single string 
running a short way down the back and terminating in 
an ornament made of some precious stone set in gold. 
Peacocks feathers, which are also badges of rank, are 
fastened to the knobs of their caps and hang down be- 
hind, and the .usual accompaniments of rank and 
wealth are seen at their sides, consisting of embroider- 
ed fan cases and small bags for containing areca nut 
and tobacco. A great part of the embroidery upon the 
dresses of most of the figures in this case is concealed 
by the " Makwa^'' " riding coat," or the upper garment. 

The splendid screen suspended at the back of this 
case, together with that of No. 2, are supposed to have 
been taken at the north during the war with Great 
Britain, and were presents to two aged persons from 
the officers of the districts in which they resided. They 
are made of beautiful materials, and the elegant writing 
and rich embroidery upon them, done in gold thread 
and floss silk, show that no labor or expense were spar- 
ed in making them every way worthy of the donors and 
those they intended to honor. A translation of one of 



11 

them has been deemed sufficient, and will be found in 
the description of figures, &c. in No. 2. 

The Chinese divide their civil and military officers 
into nine ranks, distinguishable by balls or knobs, upon 
the apex of their conical caps, of different colors and 
substances, and square pieces of embroidery upon the 
the breasts and backs of their dresses, representing a 
bird for a civil and a beast for a military officer. The 
indication of the first rank is a ball or knob of red pre- 
cious stone, the second red coral, the third blue, the 
fourth dark blue or purple, the fifth chrystal, the sixth 
opaque white, and the seventh, eighth and ninth, by 
gold or gilt ones, distinguished by being flowered or 
plain. Nobility in China is only hereditary in the fam- 
ily and connexions of the Emperor, and extends to all 
his relations descended from the same ancestors ; all 
those of his mother and grandmother within four de- 
grees; and lastly all those of the consort of the crown 
prince within two degrees. These are styled princes, 
are of different degrees of rank, distinguished by the 
colors of their girdles, are obliged to reside within the 
precincts of the Imperial city, and receive pensions 
from the Emperor for their support. They appear to 
possess little or no influence, and are not treated with 
much respect by the official nobility, who consist of 
those possessing the first rank in the Empire, those of 
the second who are employed in any official capacity, 
and those of the third, whose office confers any civil or 
military command. The five titles are kang, how, pih, 
tsze, and nan, which are equivalent to duke, count, 
baron, baronet, and knight. The two last are of infe- 
rior consequence, while the first three take precedence 
of those standing in the first of the nine ranks without 
these titles. 

" The chief source of rank and consideration in China 
is certainly cultivated talent ; and whatever may be the 



12 

character of the learning on which it is exercised, this at 
least is a more legitimate as well as more beneficial 
object of respect than the vulgar pretensions of wealth 
and fashion, or the accidental one of mere birth." 

" Wealth alone though it has of course some neces- 
sary influence, is looked upon with less respect com- 
paratively, than perhaps in any other country. The 
choice of official persons, who form the real aristocracy 
of the country, is guided, with a very few exceptions, 
by the possession of educated talent; and the country is 
therefore as ably ruled as it could be under the circum- 
stances." 

" All real rank of consequence being determined by 
talent, the test of this is afforded at the public examina- 
tions. These are open to the poorest persons; and 
only some classes, as menial servants, comedians, and 
the lowest agents of the police, are excluded. The 
literary degrees to be acquired are four, viz: " sew-tsae" 
talent flowering, "keu-jin" elevated persons, "tsin-tse" 
advanced scholars, and "han-hn" ascended to the top 
of the trees. The examinations for the first two de- 
grees are held in the districts and principal cities of the 
provinces, and the third and fourth triennially in the 
capital, the latter being in the presence of the Emperor 
himself. To pass the examination it is not necessary 
for the candidates to explore the realms of nature. 
Geography, astronomy, chemistry, anatomy, and me- 
chanics are little known, and the celestials are still 
ignorant of the laws of electricity, galvanism, and mag- 
netism, the theories of light, heat, and sound, the use 
of gas for illumination and the giant powers of steam. 
The highest excellence consists in closely imitating the 
ancients who are their paragons of excellence, and to 
attempt to surpass them in virtue or intelligence would 
be the height of presumption. The sacred four books 
and five classics, compiled by the Chinese sage, Con- 



13 

fucius, and his disciples ages ago, are the text-books 
of the student of the present day. A perfect knowledge 
of these with the authorized commentaries upon them, 
with a thorough acquaintance with the history of China 
from the earliest antiquity is what is required of them. 
The chief excellency of their essays for examination 
consists in introducing as many quotations as possible, 
and the farther they go back, for recondite and unusual 
expressions, the better ; but they are deprived of every 
scrap of writing, and are expected to carry their library, 
to use their own phrases, in their stomachs, that they 
may bring forth their literary stores as occasion requires." 

" This knowledge can only be acquired by great 
application and perseverance. The first five or six 
years at school are spent in committing the canonical 
books to memory ; another six years are required to 
supply them with phrases for a good style ; and an 
additional number of years, spent in incessant toil, are 
needed to insure success. Long before the break of 
day, the Chinese student may be heard chaunting the 
sacred books ; and till late at night the same task is 
continued. They tell of one, who, fearing the task 
assigned him was too hard, gave up his books in 
despair ; and was returning to a manual employment, 
when he saw an old woman rubbing a crowbar on a 
stone ; on asking her the reason, she replied that she 
was in want of a needle, and thought that she would 
rub down the crowbar till she got it small enough. 
The patience of the aged female provoked him to make 
another attempt, and he succeeded in attaining to the 
highest rank in the empire." 

" The stimulus given to energetic perseverance by 
making the highest offices attainable by nearly all 
classes, is immense, and the effect, in encouraging 
learning, incalculable. All persons acquire some know- 
ledge of letters ; and learning, such as it is, is more 



14 

common in China, than in any other part of the world. 
Six poor brethren will frequently agree to labor hard, 
to support the seventh at his books ; with the hope that 
should he succeed, and acquire office, he may throw a 
protecting influence over his family, and reward them 
for their toil. Others persevere to the decline of hfe, 
in the pursuit of literary fame ; and old men of eighty, 
have been known to die, of sheer excitement and ex- 
haustion, in the examination halls. In short, difficulties 
vanish before them, and they cheer each other on, with 
verses like the following : — 

"Men have dug through mountains, to cut a channel for the sea; 
"And have melted the very stones, to repair the southern skies; 
. " Under the whole heaven, there is nothing difficult, 
" It is only that men's minds are not determined." 

Out of about 10,000 candidates, who enter the hsts 
for the third degree, 300 only are selected, and become 
immediately eligible to office. The first post to which 
they are appointed, is the superintendency of a dis- 
trict, and there is not a magistrate throughout the Em- 
pire who has not ^attained the degree referred to. At 
the fourth and last examination, which is very rigor- 
ous, a small number are chosen from the 300 who at- 
tain the third degree, to enter the Han-lin-yuen or Na- 
tional Institute, the numbers of which are considered 
the elite of the country and from amongst them the 
highest officers of the state are generally selected. 

Nominal rank and titles, with the privilege of wear- 
ing the dress and distinctive badges of mandarins, may 
be purchased, for large sums, at any time, the only ad- 
vantages being the gratification of personal vanity and 
exemption from summary infliction of the bamboo. 
But offices are to be had at times, by making liberal 
subscriptions to the wants of government. A son of 
Howqua, (the richest of the Hong merchants, who died 
a few months since) was created a Keujin, in 1831, 



15 

for subscribing 36,000 taels, (about 50,000 dollars) 
to repair the dikes of a portion of Canton River, in- 
jured by an inundation; and another son, or his father 
in his name, contributed 100.000 taels (about 140,000 
dollars) towards the war in Tartary. This liberal do- 
nation his majesty did him " the favor graciously to 
accept" and conferred upon the son the rank and title 
of "Director of the Salt Monopoly." 

The practice of disposing of office is strongly repro- 
bated by the Chinese, who justly consider the literary 
institution the glory of their country. 

The Emperor is distinguished from his officers, by 
his yellow dress, upon which the imperial dragon is 
wrought in gold, and a pearl of great value adorning 
his cap. He is called the father of his people and is 
supreme ruler of the lives and fortunes of about four 
hundred millions of the human family or more than 
one third of the inhabitants of the globe. " He is held 
to be the vicegerent of Heaven, especially chosen to 
govern all nations; and is supreme in everything, 
holding at once the highest legislative and executive 
powers, without limitation or control. He is, hence, 
entitled Tien-tsze, the son of Heaven ; and is clothed 
with most of the perogatives of deity. From him em- 
anate all power and authority ; the whole earth it is ig- 
norantly supposed (and it is the policy of such as are 
better informed to perpetuate the ignorant notion,) is 
subject to his sway ; and from him as the fountain of 
power, rank, honor, and privilege, all Kings derive 
their sovereignty over the nations. It is in conformity 
with these haughty pretensions, that China has ever re- 
fused to negotiate with " outside barbarians," until 
compelled to do so by force stronger than her own. 

" The power of the sovereign is absolute, as that of 
a father over his children ; although theoretically, he is 
under the control of the heavenly decrees (of which 



16 

however he is himself interpreter ;) and practically, is 
in a great degree subject to the influence of public 
opinion, of customs, and of the enactments of his im- 
mediate ancestors and predecessors. As his will is 
law, it would be idle to attempt a specific enumeration 
of all the prerogatives which belong to him. A state- 
ment of a few of the peculiar rights maintained by the 
crown must sufiice. The Emperor is the head of all 
religion, and is alone privileged to pay adoration to 
Heaven (or the supreme ruler of the universe.) He is 
the source of law, and fountain of justice. There can 
be no appeal from his judgment ; and the gift of mercy 
belongs alone to him. No right can be held in oppo- 
sition to his pleasure; no claim can be maintained 
against him ; no privilege can protect from his wrath, 
if it be his will to set aside established rules and cus- 
toms. He is the main spring of the administration ; 
none can act but under his authority and commission. 
All the forces and revenues of the Empire are his; and 
he does with them whatsoever he pleases. He has an 
indisputed claim upon the services of all his people, 
and in particular of all males between the ages of 16 
and 60 ; but this is a claim which it is rarely attempted 
to enforce. In a word the whole Empire is his prop- 
erty." 

" The right of succession to the throne is by custom, 
hereditary in the male line ; but it is always in the 
power of the sovereign to nominate his successor, 
either from among his own children, or from among 
any other of his subjects. The successor is frequently 
nominated during his father's life time, in which case 
he possesses several exclusive privileges, as crown 
prince. The duties to be observed by the sovereign, 
are strictly understood to consist in attention to the 
moral and political maxims of the ancient philosophers, 
Confucius and Mencius, and their most celebrated dis- 



17 

ciples, as detailed in their far famed works, the Five 
Classics, and the Four Books." 

It would indeed be strange, if in a country of such 
vast extent as China, abuses of power did not some- 
time occur; but a happy, contented, and industrious 
population is a pretty sure indication that the govern- 
ment is, on the whole, well administered, and procla- 
mations like the following, show that the ' Son of 
Heaven,' notwithstanding the immense power confer- 
red upon him is careful of his reputation amongst his 
children. 

" On the 30th of April, 1819, a hurricane from the 
south east, brought prodigious quantities of sand from 
the sea coast to the capital. The whole air looked 
like a thick yellow mass ; at the same time a cloud 
covered the sun, so that Peking was suddenly involved 
in darkness ; it was impossible to distinguish objects at 
the distance of a few paces." 

" The philosophy of the Chinese, founded upon their 
classical books, teaches them that every phenomenon 
is a presage by which Heaven announces that morals 
are corrupted, and that the Emperor and his agents 
must do their utmost to restore their purity. Kia-King 
desiring to prove his repentance, and to calm the su- 
perstitious fears of the Chinese people published on the 
1st May, 1819, the following ordinance. 

"Yesterday, at three quarters past five o'clock in the 
afternoon, a south east wind suddenly arose. In a few 
minutes the air and the inside of the houses were so 
filled with sand, that it was impossible to distinguish 
objects without the help of a candle. This event is 
very extraordinary. Siezed with terror at the bottom 
of my heart, I passed the night without sleep, endeavor- 
ing to divine the cause of the anger of Heaven. 

" According to the signs laid down in the great 
model, to discover perversity, a long continued wind 



18 

indicates infatuation. The cause comes from myself, 
who have probably not been sufficiently vigilant in the 
acts of my reign, and entrusted the affairs of the Em- 
pire to unskilful hands. Perhaps the ignorance of 
negligent Mandarins has hindered the complaints of the 
nation from reaching the throne, and the results of a 
vicious administration have not allowed me to remedy 
the evils which afflict the people. 

" Perhaps there are among the Mandarins of Peking 
and other cities of China, wicked and unjust men, whose 
bad conduct has not been known to me. It is the 
duty of the officers who represent me, to share in 
my fears caused by the anger of Heaven. Each of 
them is obliged to acquaint me of everything that passes, 
not out of self interest, but through zeal alone. If there 
are faults in the administration, if it is necessary to in- 
troduce ameliorations, or to make changes, it is for 
them to point them out with minuteness and impartial- 
ity. If any of my subjects suffer innocently, his com- 
plaint should be laid before me, in order that 1 may do 
him open justice. 

" As for the Mandarins whose administration is inju- 
rious to the welfare of the Empire, and who oppress the 
people — who, having recourse to cunning and artifice, 
execute one thing and neglect another — who, deviating 
from the regular mode of business, act only according 
to circumstances, — it is my will that a detailed report 
be laid before me respecting the misdeeds of these 
wicked men. Such representations will be the proof 
of real zeal for the throne, and I shall derive from them 
all the advantages to the Empire which are conformable 
to the commands of heaven. But if advantage should 
be taken of this to serve private hatred or interest, and 
to make false accusations through a spirit of revenge 
and personal animosity, then on the contrary, white 
becomes black, and truth is mixed with falsehood, and 



19 

the orders which I give not only become useless, but 
increase the blindness of the wicked. In our days the 
human heart is perverse and corrupted ; secret and 
anonymous accusations are made against honest men, 
and often cause their ruin, which is sufficient to draw 
down the anger of heaven. The wind came from the 
south-east ; it must therefore be supposed that rebels 
unknown to the government are towards the south-east, 
and that their impunity is the cause of the derangement 
of the Celestial harmony. 

" Full of terror and alarm I think only of examining 
myself, and endeavoring to amend. 1 sincerely inquire 
into every thing. The superior and inferior Mandarins 
of Peking, as well as those out of the capital, are 
bound to turn their attention to their own faults, to 
endeavor with their whole hearts, and with all their 
strength, to fullSil the duties of the offices entrusted to 
them. By seconding my intentions they will succeed 
in strengthening their own virtue, and in preserving the 
nation in future from the evils which are predicted." 

The present Mautchou tartar dynasty, who style 
themselves Ta Tsing (great pure,) ascended the throne 
in 1644, 200 years ago. The reigning Emperor, Taou 
Kwang, succeeded his father in 1821, and is now sixty- 
four years old. 

The Great Wall of China was constructed by Chi- 
hwang-te, of the Tsin dynasty, the first universal mon- 
arch of China, about two hundred years before the 
commencement of the Christian era, to keep the Tar- 
tar hordes from invading his Empire. 

It extends from the Gulf of Pechele in a westerly 
direction, a distance of more than fifteen hundred miles ; 
descending into the deepest valleys, and ascending the 
highest mountains, one of which is 5,000 feet above the 
level of the sea. 

At important passes the wall is doubled — it varies in 



20 

height according to the nature of the ground. At the 
point where Lord Macartney passed it, the wall, as ex- 
amined by Capt. Parish, was found to be a mass of 
earth supported on each side by walls of large brick, 
with a stone foundation, and terraced with a platform 
of square brick. 

The total height of the wall, including the parapet of 
five feet, was 20 feet — the thickness at the base 25 
feet, diminishing to 15 feet at the platform. It is flanked 
with massive towers, or bastions, about 100 yards apart, 
which are 40 feet square at the base, diminishing to 30 
feet at the top. 

In building this immense work, the greatest probably 
ever produced by human labor, and surpassing the sum 
total of all other works of the kind now in existence, 
every third man of the Empire was required to work on 
it, by which means it was completed in five years. 

So heavy a tax upon the industry of the people, and 
the protection afforded by it against the Tartars, until 
the time of Ghengis Kahn in the thirteenth century, 
who then overthrew the Chinese Empire, have led the 
Chinese to call it, " The ruin of one generation and 
the salvation of thousands." 

The other great work of China is the Imperial Canal, 
which, like the great wall, stands unrivalled, in point of 
extent and magnitude of undertaking, by any other 
work of the kind in the world. Including the rivers in 
its course, which are used as parts of it, it extends from 
Tien-tsing, near Peking, to Hang-tcheou-foo, ^ distance 
of about 600 geographical miles, and is navigable for 
the largest vessels ; thus rendering the internal com- 
merce of the Empire almost wholly independent of coast 
navigation. But this is not its only merit, as it renders 
a vast tract of country, which would otherwise be an 
irreclaimable swamp, capable of cultivation. It is 
called by the Chinese, " Yun-ho," " The river for the 



21 

transportation of grain," and " Cha-ho," " The river of 
flood gates." It was principally constructed by Koblai 
Khan and his immediate successors, and is said to have 
employed 30,000 vi^orkmen nearly fifty years. 

A short distance from Nanking on the Yang-tsz- 
Keang, rise the picturesque and precipitous rocky islets 
called "The Three Hills of Kin-Kow " individually 
called " Kin-shan," " Golden Island ;" Pih-koo-shan, 
and Tseaou-shan. On the latter is situated one of the 
ancient Imperial Palaces. The island rises from the 
river with considerable abruptness, and is enclosed by 
mural cliffs which deny a landing except at the place 
of debarkation, formed for the purpose of communicat- 
ing with the Palace, temples, and other buildings upon 
the rock. The " Yang-tsz-Keang " or " Child of the 
Ocean," as this noble river is called, is one of the largest 
rivers in the world, being second only to the Amazon 
and Mississippi. 



CASE II. 



No. 8. The Empress of China seated in a Dragon Chair. 
9. Lady of a Mandarin of the first rank. 

10. do. do. do. second rank. 

11. do. do. do. third do. 

12. do. do. do. fourth do. 

13. Female Servant, with pipe. 

Superbly embroidered satin Screen upon the wall. 

Two Views; one of a Suite of Rooms in the Pal- 
ace, and the other of part of the Grounds, at- 
tached. 

In this group, the Empress, the first lady on her left, 
and the last one on her right, as well as the servant, 



are Tartars. They, unlike the others, as the observer, 
will notice, are not adorned with ' Kin-leen,^ or " the 
golden lilies," as the Chinese poetically call the small 
feet, from the supposed resemblance of their impress- 
ions to the leaves of their favorite lotus, or water lily. 
This perfection of beauty is confined to the Chinese 
alone ; the Emperor having had the good sense to pro- 
hibit by a special edict, his own family, as well as all 
Tartars from following the Chinese custom. The other 
two ladies are Chinese ; who are distinguished from 
the Tartar ladies by a slight difference in dress, as well 
by their small feet ; the costume of the Tartar females 
being very similar to the males, consisting of the'same 
cap and flowing robe, but distinguished by peculiar 
shoes and the graceful sash, while the dress of Chinese 
females contain another under dress, and sometimes 
two, visible below the robe, which is not so long as 
that worn by Tartars. The first article is a confined 
looking garment, made of heavy plaits, and the second, 
loose trowers, secured at the ancle, and the folds of 
which hang down so as nearly to conceal the " golden 
lihes." Their head dresses also differ some from that 
of the Tartars, as may be noticed. But the costumes 
of both nations, "though amongst the higher classes, 
as splendid as the most exquisite silks and embroidery 
can make them, are always extremely modest; and 
what we choose to call dress, they would regard as lit- 
short of absolute nudity, and all close fitting to the form 
as only displaying what it affects to conceal." 

The Tartar maid, in this case, is about to present a 
pipe to the Empress, for she and the rest of her sex in- 
dulge in this luxury, as well as the men, the pipe being 
used by both sexes upon all occasions. The dress of 
the maid is the same in fashion as that of her more for- 
tunate countrywomen, though of course not as splen- 
did. 



When a female is raised to the rank of Empress, the 
Emperor announces the event to mother earth, to his 
ancestors, and the ancient sages, and after many mi- 
nute observances, she is invested v^^ith the high dignity 
of the mother of the country. But notwithstanding 
she is the consort of the "Son of Heaven," her sphere, 
Hke that of the rest of her countrywomen, is very hm- 
ited. The palace walls and gardens of the Harem are 
the bounds of the world to her, as well as to the Empe- 
ror's concubines, who are said to be numerous, and the 
principal part of her time is passed in trivial amuse- 
ments within the "pepper chamber."* She is not 
even allowed the gratification of setting the fashions 
for her countrywomen ; for the style of her own dress 
is prescribed by the Board of Rites and Ceremonies at 
Peking, who are the only setters of fashions in China, 
regulating the dress of all those connected with the 
government, and to depart materially from whose ordi- 
nances would be a dangerous species of eccentricity* 

Once a year, (about November) the Empress ac- 
companied by her principal ladies, sacrifices at the 
altar of the inventor of the silk manufacture. This ap- 
pears to be the only state ceremonial, at which she of- 
ficiates, and when it is concluded, a quantity of mul- 
berry leaves are collected by herself and ladies, to 
nourish the imperial depot of silk worms. The pro- 
cesses of heating the cocoons in water, winding off the 
filament, and some others are gone through with dur- 
ing the ceremony, which is intended to encourage the 
people in the cultivation of the mulberry and rearing 
of silk worms for the production of silk, the principal 

* " According to the Kvi Sz' King Lam," says Dr. Bridgman," in the times of 
the Hon dynasty, the walls of the Harem were plastei-ed with pepper, from the 
notion that its pungent properties would dispel or neutralize all noxious va- 
pors in the rooms. From this practice, the phrase is now used to denote the 
apartments of the Empress in the palace." 



24 

part of the manufacture of which devolves upon fe- 
males. 

It is only when the Empress becomes Empress 
Mother, that much honor is paid her. Then the Em- 
peror performs his daily obeisance before her accord- 
ing to ancient custom and at certain periods of her 
life, as at fifty, sixty, seventy, &c., particular honors 
are paid her; especially at the age of sixty, which, 
being the completion of an entire cycle, is regarded as 
the greatest occasion. On the present Emperor's 
mother attaining this age, his imperial majesty issued a 
proclamation announcing to his people the great event 
and the observances attendant upon it. It is a curious 
document, and the translation as given in the Chinese 
Repository, is as follows. 

" The Emperor, who has received from Heaven, in 
the revolving course of nature, his dominion, hereby 
published a solemn ordinance. 

" Our extensive dominions have enjoyed the utmost 
prosperity, under the shelter of a glorious and enduring 
state of felicity. Our exalted race has become most 
illustrious, under the protection of that honored rela- 
tive to whom the whole court looks up. To her hap- 
piness already unalloyed, the highest degree of felicity 
has been superadded, causing joy and gladness to ev- 
ery inmate of the six palaces. The grand ceremonies 
of the occasion shall exceed in splendor the utmost 
requirements of the ancients in regard to the human 
relations, calling forth the gratulation of the whole 
Empire. It is indispensible that the observances of 
the occasion should be of an exceedingly unusual na- 
ture, in order that our reverence for our august parent 
and care for her, may both be equally and gloriously 
displayed. 

" Her majesty, the great Empress — benign and dig- 
nified, universally beneficent, perfectly serene, exten- 



sively benevolent, composed and placid, thoroughly 
virtuous, tranquil and self-collected, in favors unbound- 
ed, who in virtue is the equal of the exalted and expan- 
sive heavens, and in goodness, of the vast and solid 
earth — has, within her perfumed palaces, aided the 
renovating endeavors (of his late majesty) rendering 
the seasons ever harmonious, and in her maternal court 
has afforded a bright rule of government, thoroughly 
disinterested. She has planted for herself a glorious 
name in all the palace, which she will leave to her 
descendants ; and has imparted her substantial favors 
to the Empire, making her tender affection universally 
conspicuous. Hence genial influences abide within 
the palace of ' ever-during delight,' and joy and gratu- 
lation meet together in the halls of ' everlasting spring.' 
" In the first month of the present winter occurs the 
sixtieth anniversary of her majesty's sacred natal day. 
At the opening of the happy period, the sun and moon 
shed their united genial influences on it. When com- 
mencing anew the sexagenary cycle, the honor thereof 
adds increase to her felicity. Looking upwards, and 
beholding her glory, we repeat our gratulation, and 
announcing the event to heaven, to earth, to our ances- 
tors, and to the patron gods of the Empire. On the 
nineteenth day of the tenth moon, in the fifteenth year 
of Taou Kwang, we will conduct the princes, the nobles, 
and all the high officers, both civil and military, into the 
presence of the great Empress, benign and dignified, 
universally beneficent, perfectly serene, extensively be- 
nevolent, composed and placid, thoroughly virtuous, 
tranquil and self-collected, in favors unbounded ; and 
we will then present our congratulations on the glad 
occasion, the anniversary of her natal day. The occa- 
sion yields a happiness equal to what is enjoyed by 
goddesses in heaven ; and while announcing it to the 
gods, and to our people, we vsrill tender to her blessings 



26 

unbounded. It is the happy recommencement of the 
glorious revolution of the cycle, the felicity whereof 
shall continue long as the reign of reason. 

" At the observance of this solemn occasion, exceed- 
ingly great and special favors shall be shown ; the par- 
ticulars of which and of the ceremonies to be observed 
are hereinafter enumerated. 

" First. To the tombs of the successive Emperors 
and Kings, to the temple of the first great teacher, Con- 
fucius, to the five lofty mountains, and to the four 
mighty streams, officers shall be sent to offer sacrifices. 
Let the rules on the subject be examined and let this 
be carried into effect. 

" Secondly. All ladies of elevated rank who have 
attained to the age of sixty years or upwards, from the 
consorts of the highest princes to the wives of the lowest 
titular members of the imperial family, from the prin- 
cesses of the blood to the daughters of the subordinate 
princes, from the consorts of the Mongol royal chief- 
tains to the wives of their hereditary nobles, as well as 
the ladies of the great officers of state both Mantchou 
or Chinese, shall be presented with tokens of favor. 

" Thirdly. Every officer in the metropolis, both civil 
and military, of every grade, shall be raised in rank one 
degree. 

"Fourthly. Every officer, whether at court or in 
the provinces^ who is under promise of promotion to a 
new office, shall be at once invested with the rank of 
such new office. 

" Fifthly. In regard to every officer who for error 
in public matters has been degraded in rank, but re- 
tained in office, let the appropriate Board, after exami- 
nation, present a report, requesting that his rank be 
restored to him. 

" Sixthly. Every military officer of brevet rank shall 
be advanced to permanent rank. 



27 

" Seventhly. Every soldier of the eight banners in 
Peking shall receive a gift of one month's pay and 
rations. 

" Eighthly. Every Mantchou soldier who, having 
formerly borne arms, has been permitted, on account of 
age or sickness, to live at home, shall receive gracious 
tokens of favor. 

" Ninthly. All soldiers of the eight banners, Mant- 
chou, Chinese, and Mongols, who have attained the 
ages of seventy, eighty, or ninety years, and all Mon- 
gols of the inner tribes, or of the Kalkas, who have 
attained those ages, shall have gifts conferred on them, 
differing in relation to their several ages. Those who 
have attained the age of an hundred years, shall, on 
presenting a statement thereof, receive money to erect 
an arch. 

" Tenthly. Every one among the military and peo- 
ple (of China Proper), who has attained the age of 
seventy shall be allowed one person to attend on him 
free of liability to conscription. Every one who has 
attained the age of eighty shall receive (also) one piece 
of silk, ten catties of cotton, one stone weight of rice, 
and ten catties of flesh. Every one who has attained 
the age of ninety or of a hundred years, shall receive 
money, for the erection of an arch. 

" Eleventhly. Every perfectly filial son or obedient 
grandson, every remarkably upright husband, or chaste 
wife, upon proofs being brought forward of real facts, 
shall have a monument erected with an inscription, in 
his or her honor. 

" Twelfthly. Of the lower classes of literary gradu- 
ates, all who have passed good examinations, but with- 
out attaining degrees, shall be presented with degrees. 

" Thirteenthly. The students of the national college 
shall have a vacation of one month. 

" Fourteenthly. In every case in which the tombs of 



the successive emperors and kings, or the temples of 
the lofty mountains and mighty streams, have fallen 
into decay, let requests for their repair be sent in. 

" Fifteenthly. Let roads and bridges that are in 
want of repair, in all the provinces, be repaired by the 
local officers. 

" In this manner shall her majesty's sanctity and 
virtue be declared, and become a rule and an example, 
the praise of which shall be like the sun and moon, and 
shall be ever increasing. Her kindness shall be diffused 
abroad and extended to all ; and all shall rejoice with 
the joys of music and dancing. Let this be proclaimed 
to the whole Empire, that all may be made to hear and 
know it." 

Such ornamental pieces of embroidery and writing 
as the one at the back of this case and that in No. 1 
are called by the Chinese, Shau-Ping, literally. Lon- 
gevity Screens. They are presented to persons who 
have attained a virtuous old age and are not intended 
to be used as screens, but are suspended behind the 
tablets, upon> which the names of the venerated de- 
ceased are inscribed, in the Ancestral halls. This one 
" is made of fine red satin, 14^i feet long, by 9X feet 
broad, and is covered with writing and embroidery, the 
latter in gold thread and floss silk. The writing occu- 
pies the middle of the sheet, and is symmetrical and 
elegant in the extreme. A large dragon's head adorns 
the top, beneath which are three sitting figures, emble- 
matic of Longevity, Happiness, and Official Emolu- 
ment ; and on each side are four standing figures rep- 
resenting the eight genii ; various devices, as tripods, 
vases, &c., are interspersed among the figures, giving to 
the whole a pleasing and tasty appearance." There are 
also two narrow strips hanging down from the top upon 
which the following seal characters are embroidered, 
viz : " Shaow-peih-lam-shan." " May your age be like 



29 

the southern mountains." The translation which fol- 
lows, was made for the Chinese Repository, by S. 
Wells Williams, Esq., one of the conductors and pro- 
prietors of that valuable magazine. The inscription is 
in form of a letter. 

Note upon the Longevity Honor, respectfully pre- 
sented with congratulations to her ladyship, Sun-nee- 
Sie, by imperial favor, elevated to be of the seventh 
rank of dignity, on her 70th birthday. 

" In the year 1802, 1 was in command of the land and 
sea forces of Fukien province ; this province is conter- 
minous with Kwangtung. The village Ching belongs 
to Kwangtung, to the present department of Kiaying, 
a place which was by the rectitude of the scholar Ching 
of Nautse, quite renovated, (and named after him.) 
Although I was in retirement (literally a gourd hung 
up to dry,) still the parents of the people, (i. e. the au- 
thorities,) in all that region knew me. A subordinate, 
then under the magistrate of Kiaying chau, was the 
Taping fansz', now the assistant chifu. Sun Siifang, 
who governed that district ; all men were refreshed by 
his upright rules, nor was there a dissentient voice. 
His mother, the lady Sie, was the first and only wife of 
Sun Siunche, the assistant chifu of Lwan chau, and he 
(her son) brought her from Chekiang into his office, 
and assiduously and constantly nourished and took care 
of her with respectful attention. 

" It was on the lady Sun attaining the anniversary 
day of her 7th decennium, that all the gentry wished 
to imitate the custom usual on such occasions of pre- 
senting a Longevity Token, and requested an explana- 
tory notice from me, and also that I would direct the 
libations; at the same time sending for my inspection 
two longevity discourses made when lords Sz', the 
graduate, and lord Han, the district magistrate, were 
sixty years old. 



" It appears that the etiquette in ancient times, in 
making offerings on birth days, was not to do it always 
on the day itself, but to chose a convenient time ; in 
Pin, it was the custom to observe them after the har- 
vest was got in ; and in the Han dynasty it was on 
new year's day ; at present, some do it on the birthday, 
which resembles the ancient practice. Now my own 
attainments are not all comparable to those of Lord 
Sz,' and Prince Han, an(i moreover your ladyship's do- 
mestic regulations are worthy to become a model to in- 
structors ; may your happiness and age daily increase. 
Why therefore should any one wait for my echoing 
praise of such a reputation ? But taking a point which 
all those in the district of Kiaying who have the least 
acquaintance with the matter know, viz. that Sun Sii- 
fang and his brothers, reverentially received the in- 
struction of their mother, I will remark upon it. The 
assistant magistrate (i. e. Sun SUfang,) has thorough 
and most discriminating talents ; for although his juris- 
diction is over only a small corner of the department, 
he does not confine his efforts to his own limited dis- 
trict, but has become generally distinguished ; he has 
apprehended villains and cleared the country of rob- 
bers; he exhibits his kind regard for the villagers, and 
consults their wishes ; in all these duties exerting him- 
self to the utmost. Moreover, when he at any time 
received the chief magistrate's order to attend to any 
special business, such as levying fines, arranging schools, 
&c., he critically discriminated the advantages and the 
disadvantages in everything, displaying the utmost equi- 
ty and purity, in order on the one hand to requite the 
confidence reposed in him by the superior magistrate, 
and on the other, to show his rectitude to all the inhab- 
itants. The quiet order of the country was altogether 
owing to the resolute vigor of the assistant magistrate, 
extending itself over and benefitting all that region, while 



31 

during this interval of several years his integrity was 
unimpeachable, and he was still poor. All this excel- 
lence was owing to your ladyship's instructions, through 
which he maintained the magisterial uprightness of his 
ancestors, and perpetuated the honor of the distinguish- 
ed officer (his father ;) therefore, when men praised 
the bravery of the assistant magistrate, there was not 
one who did not in so doing laud the virtue of his 
mother. The young gentleman, his brother, is also 
now about to receive an appointment to an office ; and 
when your grandchildren all rise up (to emulate and 
succeed their parents,) it will be like the flight of the 
phcenix, or the stateliness of the stork ; your joy will be 
complete. 

" Your ladyship's nephew, the prefect of Tating fu 
in Kweichau, a place beyond the far reaching clouds, 
you have also through the past instructed in the prin- 
ciples of justice ; if you thus remember those who are 
distant, how will you not care for those near you ! In 
ancient times, when the mother of Chang Tsihien, went 
to the palace, his majesty, on account of her age and 
her happiness, that she had so distinguished a son, hon- 
ored her with a complimentary letter from his own 
hand. And too, the Emperor Jintsung remarked, when 
seeing the prudent government of Tsai Kiunnui, " If 
such is the son, what must the mother's virtue be !" 
and he sent her a coronet and a ribbon as a mark of 
special honor. Your ladyship has now reached the 
age of threescore and ten, and will no doubt soon re- 
ceive some mark of imperial regard ; so that then the 
glory of those two matrons will not be alone, for yours 
will equal theirs ; and if the assistant magistrate heartily 
regards you, and diligently upholds the integrity of his 
office, we shall soon see him rise to the first grade of 
rank, and then your subsequent glory will be more con- 
spicuous. 



" The benignant favor of our Emperor diffuses itself 
among and blesses the people ; the peace and grandeur 
of the country and the excellence and purity of the 
usages are preeminent ; and as your ladyship's health 
is vigorous, and your sons and grandsons are fortunate, 
truly your joys are not yet full. 1 know that the wishes 
of the people and gentry of the district, in imitating the 
custom of the Pin country in offering the libation cup 
of blessing, and in performing the same ceremony of 
elevating the longevity gifts as they did in the Han 
dynasty, are by no means fully satisfied, although these 
are the highest of rites among ceremonial observances ; 
and therefore this which I have written may be regarded 
as an additional cup offered up on their behalf. 

"Your humble brother, Yen Minghan, by imperial 
favor a military graduate of the first rank, appointed to 
the imperial body guard in his majesty's presence, ap- 
pointed to be ' awe inspiring general,' major-general 
in command of the forces of Fukien province, and act- 
ing admiral of the navy there ; formerly general of the 
troops in the two departments of Changchau and Kien- 
ning ; in 1789 appointed official examiner at the mili- 
tary examination in Fukien, and formerly acting general 
of the troops in Ninghia fu in Kansuh, during the war, 
raised four steps and recorded ten times, respectfully 
bows and presents his compliments. Kiaking, 7th year, 
8th moon, 20th day, (Oct. 1802.) 

" The names and titles of 238 persons are appended, 
beginning with those highest in office and descending 
to the lowest, who all subscribed to purchase and pre- 
sent this to Madame Suse." 

The reader will notice in the introductory part of the 
letter that this old lady had been elevated to the seventh 
rank of dignity. This mode of bestowing nominal rank 
is a great inducement to parents to attend to the edu- 
cation and consequent advancement of their sons, as 



33 

not only the fortunate literary candidates themselves 
receive honors, but their parents also, who if dead, have 
posthumous titles conferred upon them, which are in- 
scribed upon their tablets, preserved in the Halls of 
Ancestors, and used in the ceremonies attending the 
sacrifices to their manes. 



CASE III. 



Mandarin of the fourth rank. 

Secretary. 

Interpreter. 

Inferior Officer, with whip, 
do. do. do. bamboo. 

Culprit on his knees. 

Criminal confined in a tub. 

Painting at the back of the case. Table with red cloth 
in front. 

Large lacquered " Law San,^^ or " State Umbrella.^^ 

Large " Eu-sheen,^^ or " Imperial Fan,'''' carried in pro- 
cessions to screen distinguished persons from the rays of 
the sun. 

Painted wood Banner, carried before a person of rank, 
with his name and titles in gilded characters upon it. 

This case contains a representation of a Chinese 
court of justice. The judge is seated behind his table 
with writing implements before him, two metal cases 
filled with sticks are at one end of the table, and at the 
other a case done up in yellow grass cloth, contains his 
official seals, while the small roll on the frame above 
it, also enclosed in the imperial color, contains his au- 
thority from the Emperor. This figure is an excellent 

5 

i 



34 

likeness of a former Kwang-chow-foo of Canton, much 
beloved by the people. 

On the right of the officer, stands his Secretary, on 
the left, the interpreter, in front, on one side, a myrmi- 
don, with wip in hand, has just brought in a prisoner, 
and opposite, stands his fellow with the dreaded (as 
well as admired) bamboo in his hands, ready to dis- 
pense justice with it, according to the orders of his su- 
perior. 

A criminal, already sentenced, is expiating his of- 
fence in a tub, his head and hands only being visible. 
In the rear of the judge is a painting of a large Chinese 
Unicorn, a tree with a case containing the seals of of- 
fice, suspended upon one of the branches, and a bird 
descending with a scroll in its beak. The Chinese 
generally do not appear to understand the meaning of 
such paintings as this, which are suspended behind 
their officers in court rooms. But they would seem to 
be emblematic of the duty of the officers to discharge 
their trusts faithfully, in order to obtain promotion 
which is indioated by the case of seals suspended above 
and the scroll containing a commission in the mouth of 
a descending bird. 

A Chinese court room is never graced with a jury 
box; the representative of the Emperor is both judge 
and jury. " The plaintiff, defendant, and witnesses, 
kneel in front of him, with the instruments of torture 
placed near them. No counsel is allowed to plead, but 
the written allegations required, must be prepared by 
licensed notaries, who may also read them in court. 
These notaries buy their situations and repay them- 
selves by the fees upon the documents." The services 
of an interpreter are necessary in court, as a medium 
of conversation between the judge and prisoners, the 
laws of China forbidding persons holding office in their 
native provinces, or even owning real estate, or con- 



35 

tracting marriage, in the provinces to which they are 
appointed ; and notwithstanding the universal use of 
the same written language throughout the empire, the 
dialects of the different provinces vary so much as to 
make the natives of one uninteUigible to those of 
another, without recourse to writing. " The legal 
mode of torture, in forcing evidence, is to squeeze the 
ankles or the fingers between three sticks, tied triangu- 
larly : the former being applied to male, and the latter 
to female prisoners. Oaths are never required, nor 
even admitted, in judicial proceedings ; but very severe 
punishments are attached to falsehood in evidence." 

" The Chinese have some singular modes of demon- 
strating their respect and regard on the departure of 
any public magistrate, whose government has been 
marked by moderation and justice. A deputation some- 
times waits upon him with a habit composed of every 
variety of color, " a coat of many colors," as if made 
by a general contribution from the people. With this 
he is solemnly invested, and though of course the gar- 
ment is not intended to be worn, it is preserved as an 
honorable relic in the family. On quitting the district, 
he is accompanied by crowds that follow his chair, or 
kneel by the wayside, while at intervals on the road 
are placed tables of provisions and sticks of incense 
burning. These honors were shown to a late Fooyuen 
of Canton, a man of a most eccentric, but upright char- 
acter, who unlike so many others in his situation, 
would never take anything from the Hong merchants, 
or others under his authority. He seemed to have a 
supreme indifference for human grandeur, and at 
length retired by his own choice and the Emperor's 
permission into private Hfe, from whence it is said he 
became a devotee of Budh. On his quitting Canton, 
" numerous addresses were presented to him indicating 
a desire, as expressed in the figurative and poetical 



36 

language of the Chinese, ' to detain his boots,' in or- 
der to prevent his setting out on his journey :" and this 
singular custom was observed, in conformity with an- 
cient usage on such rare occasions ; when he had ac- 
cepted the various demonstrations of homage and re- 
spect from those who had been deputed by the people 
to wait on him, he proceeded from his residence to the 
city gates, and, being there arrived, his boots were 
taken off, to be preserved, as valued rehcs, while their 
place was suppHed by a new pair. This was repeated 
more than once as he proceeded on his way, the boots 
which he had only once drawn on being regarded as 
precious memorials." 

Punishments in China are of five kinds, each gradu- 
ated according to the heinousness of the offence. The 
first is flogging with the bamboo, which is of two sizes 
and the dimensions of each regulated by law. The 
smallest is used for petty offences, requiring, according 
to law, from ten to fifty blows, which to suit the Chinese 
maxim, " that in enacting laws rigor is necessary and 
enforcing thefti leniency," are reduced in practice to 
from four to twenty, the reduction being placed to the 
credit of the Emperor and called imperial favor. So 
summary is the application of the bamboo, that instan- 
ces often occur of an offender receiving punishment 
and going free within the hour the offence was commit- 
ted. The number of blows with the larger bamboo is 
hmited from sixty to one hundred in theory, but is re- 
duced ir practice to from twenty to forty. Tartars are 
subjected to the whip, which is not considered as dis- 
graceful as t '^ bamboo. The tallies or slips of wood in 
the metal cases in front of the magistrate, in this case, 
are used to indicate the number of blows to be given 
to the culprit and when thrown upon the floor by the 
magistrate, are taken up by the attendant and four 
blows in reality given for each, although nominally, 
they signify more. 



37 

The second class of punishment, is the Cangue, or 
wooden collar, worn from one month to three, and 
varying in weight according to the heinousness of the 
crime. It is a plank, sufficiently large to hinder the 
criminal from reaching his head if his hands are not 
confined, with holes to fit the neck and wrists, and on 
it the offence is inscribed. The tub in this case, with 
a man in it, is a species of Cangue of an uncomfortable 
kind, as it prevents the free motion of different parts of 
the body. The Cangue is often a fatal punishment, 
and the foreigners at Canton were shocked with a hor- 
rid exhibition of it in the fall of 1843. Some wretches 
taken in the act of setting fire to buildings in the neigh- 
borhood of the foreign factories, which it was their 
intention to destroy, were put in pairs in large double 
Cangues and were thus exposed, in several of the great- 
est thoroughfares near the factories to the gaze of passers 
by, to be starved to death. To add to their sufferings 
they were placed within smell of the savory steams 
arising from numerous travelling cooking estabhshments 
in their vicinity. Their own countrymen made no 
offers of assistance to them, and the efforts of some 
benevolent foreigners to supply them with food were 
resisted by the underlings, having the prisoners in 
charge, who remarked that it would only prolong their 
sufferings. In this way they perished, one by one, and 
several were seen with their eyes fixed, in the vacant 
stare of death, and decay stealing rapidly over their 
bodies, while a stronger fellow prisoner fastened to 
them was still lingering out a loathsome existence. In 
this manner the dead remained in the Cangue until 
nightfall, when they were inspected by a Mandarin and 
removed for interment. 

The third class of punishment is transportation of the 
offender to various distances, not exceeding fifty leagues, 
and for diflferent lengths of time, from his home, accord- 



38 

ing to the nature of the offence. There is also a scale 
of punishment with the bamboo, corresponding to the 
distance and duration of temporary banishment ; for 
instance, sixty blows correspond to a year, and seventy, 
to a year and a half, advancing thus ten blows for each 
half year. 

The fourth class of punishment is exile beyond the 
Chinese frontier, temporarily, or for life. Criminals 
are often banished to Ee-ly, the principal seat of Chi- 
nese rule in Mongol Tartary, and are generally con- 
demned to military service, or made slaves to the Tar- 
tars. This is often the fate of the highest officers of 
the government who happen to displease their master, 
and several Hong merchants and linguists have been 
sent there from Canton, but those having wealthy 
friends find it no hard matter to make their residence 
in " the cold country " a pleasant one. Transportation, 
if the criminal is a Tartar, is in some instances com- 
muted for the Cangue, to which a scale of the time to 
be worn, graduated to different distances, is adapted. 

The three capital punishments, constituting the fifth 
class, are, strangling, beheading, and a slow and igno- 
minious death, sometimes termed cutting into ten thou- 
sand pieces. " In all ordinary cases, the executions 
throughout the Empire are postponed until the autuin- 
nal assize, when the Emperor confirms the sentences 
of the provincial officers. But for extraordinary offen- 
ces, such as robbery attended with murder, arson, rape, 
breaking into fortifications, violence by banditti of one 
hundred persons, highway robbery and piracy, the 
offenders may be beheaded immediately." Strangula- 
tion (in Chinese Keaou ' the silken twist') is considered 
the least disgraceful mode of execution, as by it the 
body is preserved whole for interment ; indeed so great 
is the solicitude of the Chinese on this point, that many 
preserve the broken pieces of the finger nails, which 



39 

they sometimes allow to grow to such inordinate lengths, 
to be interred with them. The least crime for which 
strangulation is assigned, is a third theft, and effacing 
the brands affixed for the former two. It is inflicted 
upon a heavy, upright wooden cross, by twisting a cord 
tight around the ankles and staff, then the waist, the 
wrists, and lastly the neck. Bribes are given to shorten 
the sufferings by driving a poignard to the heart or 
twisting the cord first around the neck. Pirates and 
murderers, in addition to beheading, have their heads 
exposed in small cages, suspended on poles, in public 
places. Criminals who undergo this extreme punish- 
ment are conveyed to the execution ground in baskets, 
with their names and sentences written on long slips of 
wood attached to their backs, and are placed upon their 
knees, facing towards the imperial court at Peking, 
with heads bowed, in token of submission ; one blow 
from the sword of the executioner and the head is sev- 
ered from the body, and the immortal spirit sent " un- 
annointed and unannealed" into the presence of its 
Maker. 

Offences against the Emperor being considered the 
most aggravated, the punishment inflicted is the most 
cruel and ignominious, and is that of slowly cutting to 
pieces. Parricide (" which ranks as petit treason,") 
sacrilege, and some other crimes, are punished in the 
same way ; but in the first instance not only the traitor 
(either principal or accessary,) but his innocent family 
is immolated for his crime ; his sons, even of tender 
age, are strangled, and the females of his family sold 
into bondage in provinces far distant from their home, 
and the law, not to be robbed of its victims even by 
death, drags those who have been guilty of treason 
from the grave and inflicts the same indignities upon 
their inanimate and oftentimes putrid bodies that it 
demanded while in life. 



One curious feature in Chinese law is, that substitutes 
are allowed even for criminals condemned to decapita- 
tion, and, incredible as it may appear, men are to be 
found in this populous country to suffer under the hands 
of the executioner in the place of another for a small 
competency for their families, and men always stand 
ready at the courts, the skin on the extremity of whose 
bodies has long been callous to the bamboo, to become 
substitutes for those who are able to pay. The price 
formerly charged, we have been informed by a native, 
was one dollar a blow, but competition, it appears, has 
affected this business as well as others, and the charge 
is now only half that sum. Our informant further told 
us that he had seen one man receive in succession, 
without rising from his position, (face downwards upon 
the ground,) the punishment due to three. 

Chinese prisons, styled by them Ty-yo, or hell, are 
very severe, and prolonged imprisonments in them are 
the most frequent instruments of judicial injustice. 
" Women, in ordinary cases, enjoy the fortunate ex- 
emption of being placed, as criminals, in the custody 
of their nearest relations, who are answerable for them, 
and in this manner they escape the farther contamina- 
tion of vice in a prison." Mutual responsibility per- 
vades the Empire from the highest to the lowest, and 
serves to keep the ponderous machinery in order. Neigh- 
borhoods are divided into tens and hundreds, in charge 
of responsible men selected from amongst them ; these 
report to the inferior Mandarins, who are amenable to 
the superior ones, and thus the scale ascends and ends 
only in the supreme head, the Emperor. To such ex- 
tent is the patriarchal form of government carried, that 
" fathers have virtually the powers of life and death 
over their children ; for, even if they kill them design- 
edly, they are subject to only the chastisement of the 
bamboo, and a year's banishment; if struck by them, to 



41 

no punishment at all. The penalty for striking parents, 
or for cursing them, is death, as among the Hebrews. 
In practice, it does not appear that this absolute power 
bestowed on fathers is productive of evil ; the natural 
feeling being, upon the whole, a sufficient security 
against its abuse." 

Notwithstanding the severity of some of the laws of 
China, Mr. Ellis, who is quoted by Davis from Sir 
George Staunton, as one " whose acquaintance with 
Persia, India, and China rendered him a peculiarly 
competent judge, pronounces China superior to the 
other countries of Asia, both in the arts of government, 
and the general aspect of society ; and adds that the 
laws are more generally known, and more equally ad- 
ministered ; and that those examples of oppression, ac- 
companied with the infliction of barbarous punishment, 
which offend the eye and distress the feelings of the 
most hurried traveller in other Asiatic countries, are 
scarcely to be met with in China," and Davis justly re- 
marks, " that a country cannot, upon the whole, be 
very ill-governed, whose subjects write in the style of 
Tien-kee-she,^^ a Chinese, as follows ; " I fehcitate my- 
self that I was born in China ; it constantly occurs to 
me, what if I had been born beyond the sea, in some 
remote part of the earth, where the cold freezes, or the 
heat scorches ; where the people are clothed with the 
leaves of plants, eat wood, dwell in the wilderness, 
lie in holes of the earth, are far removed from the 
converting maxims of the ancient Kings, and are ig- 
norant of the domestic relations. Though born as one 
of the generation of men, I should not have been dif- 
ferent from a beast. But how happily I have been 
born in China! 1 have a house to hve in, have drink 
and food, and commodious furniture. I have clothing 
and caps, and infinite blessings. Truly the highest fe- 
licity is mine." 



42 



CASE IV. 

Teacher seated at his table. 
Pupil reciting his lesson. 
Priest of Fo or Budha seated. 

do. the Taou sect standing. 
Paintings of Gods, Sages and Worthies suspended at the 

back of the case. 
Chinese Tomb. 

do. . Coffin. 
Mourning Dress. 
Pair of Mourning Lanterns. 

Here are to be seen the teachers of the three most 
prominent rehgions of the Chinese. The first is a dis- 
ciple of Koong-foo-tsze, or Confucius (as his name has * 
been latinized by the Jesuits,) who is worshipped as a 
god in China, and whose system of ethics is the favor- 
ite religion of the better classes of the people and con- 
stitutes the principal part of their education. 

The young lad in front of the table, is reciting his 
lesson in Chinese fashion, with his back to the teacher. 
On the table are the works studied by young persons, 
writing apparatus, and the rod, that universal persua- 
der throughout the world, and most direct mode of ap- 
pealing to the feelings of the young. 

The Priest of Budha, whose tonsure extends to the 
whole head, is seated in his chair, with a rosary in one 
hand, and small whisk brush in the other, in a state of 
mental abstraction, awaiting his absorption into nonen- 
tity, which his creed teaches him is the summit of hap- 
piness ; far above heaven. This figure is an excellent 



43 

likeness of a former Abbot, of the celebrated Honam 
Jos house, who was much venerated by the Padries of 
the establishment. 

The Priest of Taou, or Laou-keun and Laou-tsze (the 
old infant) as the founder of this sect was called, be- 
cause born with white hair, differs but little in his garb 
from the devotee to Budha, he has the same rosary and 
whisk brush, but is distinguished from him by his queue, 
or tail, and from his countrymen in the manner of 
doing up this curious appendage, with a skewer and in 
a small wooden cup. 

The brushes in the hands of both these priests are 
necessary in the cells of the temples, where they re- 
side, which are badly ventilated, and in summer swarm 
with musquitoes, against whose insinuating advances, 
not even Budhistic absorption is proof. 

The paintings of gods on the wall are a few of the 
immense number to be seen, set up in peculiar frames, 
in the hongs and large stores in the cities. The paint- 
ings of sages and worthies are of a style much esteemed 
by the Chinese. 

Confucianism is the principal or State religion of 
China and that patronized by those who make any pre- 
tensions to learning. The stabiHty of the patriarchal 
form of government in China, notwithstanding the 
many revolutions which have taken place, is undoubt- 
edly owing to the strong hold which the moral maxims 
of the sage Koong-foo-tsze has upon the minds of the 
people. His system of ethics, formed several centu- 
ries before the Christian era, are rather of a political 
than religious cast, and Dr. Morrison observes, " a 
family is the prototype of his nation or empire, and he 
lays at the bottom of his system, not the visionary no- 
tions of independence and equality, but principles of 
dependence and subordination, as of children to pa- 
rents, the younger to the elder, and so on. These 



principles are perpetually inculcated in the Confucian 
writings, as well as embodied in solemn ceremonials, 
and in apparently trivial forms of mere etiquette. It is 
probably this feature of his doctrines, that has made 
him such a favorite with all the governments of China 
for many centuries past and down to this day. These 
principles and these forms are early instilled into young 
minds, and form the basis of their moral sentiments; 
the elucidation and enforcement of these principles and 
forms are the business of students, who aspire to be 
magistrates, or statesmen, and of the wealthy, who de- 
sire nominal rank in the country ; and it is in all likeli- 
hood, owing chiefly to the influence of these princi- 
ples on the national mind and conscience, that China 
holds together the largest associated population in the 
world." 

It is striking, to witness the veneration paid to 
Koong-foo-tsze at the present day, notwithstanding a 
period of 2,300 years has passed away, since his death. 
His title " the most holy teacher of ancient times," was 
given to him during the Ming dynasty, and is contin- 
ued by the Tartars, who now sit upon the throne. 
There are 1,560 temples in the empire, dedicated to 
his memory, and the government annually sacrifices to 
his manes, 6 bullocks, 27,000 pigs, 5,800 sheep, 2,800 
deer, and 27,000 rabbits, making a total of 62,606 vic- 
tims, in addition to which, 27,600 pieces of silk are of- 
fered at the same time. At the sacrifices at Peking, 
the Emperor himself does him homage, and the magis- 
trates and all the learned throughout other parts of the 
land ; and in all the school rooms in this vast empire, 
his name, inscribed on tablets, is hung up, to which, 
the scholars pay their daily respects after saluting the 
teacher, and before which, they burn incense morning 
and evening. Such are some of the honors paid to 
this ancient sage, who, undoubtedly, has influenced a 



. 45 

larger portion of the whole human race than any other 
pagan philosopher. 

Some of the moral maxims and advice contained 
in the works of Koong-foo-tsze, are most excellent. 
" There are three things," said he, " to beware of 
through life. When a man is young, let him beware 
of his appetites ; when middle aged, of his passions ; 
and, wiien old, of covetousness especially." And upon 
being asked if any one word would answer as a guide 
for a person's actions during hfe, he replied " will not 
the word Shoo serve ?" and explained its meaning by, 
" do unto others as you would they should do unto 
you." He said little about a future state of existence, 
and when questioned by one of his disciples upon the 
subject, recalled his attention to material things by re- 
plying, "not knowing the state of the living, how can 
you know the state of the dead ?" and his universal 
maxim was, " Respect the gods, but keep them at a 
distance." 

Owing to the number who annually try their fortunes 
at the literary examinations and fail to attain degrees, 
teachers are plenty, and although respected according 
to their attainments, their pay is generally small ; not 
ordinarily exceeding ten or fifteen dollars per month in 
the common schools, but in private establishments it is 
much more. In the high schools, or colleges, the num- 
ber of pupils sometimes rises to hundreds ; in the com- 
mon schools it varies from ten to forty. The pupils 
assemble at sunrise and remain till ten o'clock, when an 
hour is allowed for breakfast, after which their studies 
are resumed and continue till four or five o'clock ; they 
are then dismissed, generally, to reassemble at early 
lamp-lighting to pore over their books again until nine 
o'clock. The master occupies an elevated seat and 
the boys set facing him at separate tables ; there are no 
classes, each pupil reciting his lesson separately ; all 



46 

study aloud to enable the master to discover when they 
are engaged with their lessons, and raising their voices 
to a high key make a noise which can be heard in the 
streets for some distance. " Severity," observes a 
writer in the Chinese Repository, " is highly esteemed 
by parents, who seem to feel only that their boys will 
not receive their full due ; and punishments are often 
and severely inflicted. Neglect in arriving punctually 
at school, or in acquiring his lesson in a given time, 
together with any kind of misbehavior, renders the pupil 
liable to punishment, by reproof, chastisement, or ex- 
pulsion." 

Budhism, which took its rise in India several centuries 
prior to the appearance of Koong-foo-tsze and Laou- 
Keun in China, was at one time the prevailing religion 
of that country, but a fierce persecution which took 
place during the sixth century of our era, nearly exter- 
minated or expelled its followers frorti Hindostan. It 
was introduced into- China in A. D. 65 or 66, during 
the reign of Ming-ty, an Emperor of the Han dynasty, 
who, says Davis, " considering a certain saying of Con- 
fucius to be prophetic of some saint to be discovered in 
the west, sent emissaries to seek him out. On reaching 
India they discovered the sect of the Budhists, and 
brought back some of them with their idols and books 
to China." 

The Budhists believe in a future state of existence 
and jn the metempsycosis or transmigration of souls as 
a reward to the virtuous and punishment to the guilty. 
The paradise of Budha, as described in one of their 
works quoted by Medhurst, " is of yellow gold. Its 
gardens and palaces are all adorned with gems. It is 
encircled with rows of trees, and borders of network. 
There are lovely birds of sparkling plumage and ex- 
quisite notes. The great god, 0-lo-han, the goddess 
of mercy, the unnumbered Budhas, the host of demi- 



47 

gods, and the sages of heaven and earth, will all be 
assembled in that sacred spot. But in that kingdom 
there are no women, for the women who will live in 
that country are first changed into men. The inhabit- 
ants are produced from the lotus flower, and have pure 
and fragrant bodies, fair and well formed countenances, 
with hearts full of wisdom, and without vexation. They 
dress not, and yet are not cold ; they dress, and are not 
made hot. They eat not, and are not hungry ; they 
eat, and yet never know satiety. They are without 
pain and sickness, and never become old. Enjoying 
themselves at ease, they follow Budha, gaily frisking 
about without trouble. The felicity of that kingdom 
may be justly considered superlative, and the age of its 
inhabitants without measure. This is the paradise of 
the west, and the way to obtain it, is the most simple 
imaginable ; depending on one sentence, O-me-to-Fiih 
(Amida Budha ;) yet the world will not take the trouble 
to seek this good so easily attained ; but put on their 
iron boots, and go in quest of another road." Such is 
the heaven of Budha, and such the way to obtain it. 
But if their paradise is an inviting one, their hell is the 
abode of unspeakable misery ; for the unfortunate beings 
who are condemned to the infernal regions are there 
torn in pieces, thrown upon hills of knives or into boil- 
ing caldrons, sawn asunder, fastened to pillars of red 
hot brass, and otherwise tormented according to their 
crimes, until transformed into some of the six grades of 
metempsycosis again revisit the earth to do penance. 

" One of the most favorite doctrines of Budha is, 
that all things originated in nothing, and will revert to 
nothing again. Hence annihilation is the summit of 
bliss ; and nirupan, nirvana, or nonentity, the grand 
and ultimate anticipation of all. Contemplation and 
abstractedness of mind, with a gradual obliteration of 
all sense and feeling, are considered the nearest ap- 



48 

proaches to bliss, attainable on earth; and the devotees 
of this system aim and affect to have no joys or sor- 
rows, hopes or fears, sense or emotion, either of body 
or mind; living without looking, speaking, hearing, 
smelling, or feehng ; yea, without eating, and without 
breathing, until they approach to that enviable state of 
perfection, annihilation. Budha is nothing, and to es- 
cape the various transmigrations, to rise above the hap- 
piness of Heaven, and to be absorbed into Budha, is to 
be amalgamated into nothing. Those who have at- 
tained the greatest nearness to this abstraction, are con- 
sidered the most holy ; and if they can manage to sus- 
tain life, without appearing to live, they are denomi- 
nated present Budhas, and worshipped accordingly. 
The world-renouncing priest, with vacant stare and 
emaciated look, not deigning to regard anything in 
Heaven or on earth, receives divine honors from the 
wondering bystanders, who think him something more 
than mortal, because fast approaching to nonentity." 

Budhism appears to be the most popular religion 
of the middlie and lower classes, by whom it is chiefly 
supported. Its priests are principally from the latter, 
and are sometimes fugitives from justice, who, to es- 
cape the sword of the executioner, shave their heads, 
disguise themselves in the garb of priests, and retiring 
to the cells attached to the Budhist temples, elude the 
search of the Mandarins. But their ranks are princi- 
pally filled with young men, who grow up among them, 
being placed in the temples in childhood by their pa- 
rents, who consult a fortune teller upon the birth of a 
son, to ascertain his destiny, and being informed by one 
of these oracles, that unless consecrated to Budha, the 
child will die young; consider it useless, to contend 
against fate and act accordingly. Brought up in idle- 
less, without any incentive to exertion, they live prin- 
cipally, by begging, their knowledge seldom extends 



49 

beyond reading their prayers without understanding 
them, and many of those who can afford it are opium 
smokers. 

Many of the ceremonies of the Budhist rehgion are 
similar to those of the Roman Cathohcs, as was noticed 
by the early Jesuits, who visited China, to convert her 
to Christianity. They shave the head, practice cehb- 
acy, profess poverty, and hve in secluded abodes ; they 
use the rosary, candles, incense, holy water, bells, im- 
ages and relics, in their worship ; they believe in pur- 
gatory, with the possibility of praying souls out of its 
fires, their prayers are offered up in a strange language, 
their altar pieces are similar ; and the very titles of their 
intercessors, such as 'goddess of mercy,' 'holy mother,' 
and 'queen of Heaven,' with the image of a virgin, hav- 
ing a child in her arms, holding a cross, are the same. 

This religion has at times, been encouraged, and at 
others, its devotees have been persecuted by the gov- 
ernment. At present, it appears to be left to its own 
resources by those in authority, except in Thibet, where 
the Emperor finds it poHtic in governing the Tartar 
hordes to respect the rehgion of the Lamas, which if 
not Budhism, is closely allied to it. 

The religion of Taou, or sect of Rationalists was 
founded by Laou-keun, or Laou-tsze a contemporary of 
Confucius, but the Taou or Reason itself, is said to be 
uncreated and to have existed from eternity, and its 
founder to have been an incarnation of it. The doc- 
tors of Eternal Reason speak of and explain it in a 
truly transcendental strain. They say — 

"What is there superior to heaven, and from which 
heaven and earth sprang? nay, what is there superior 
to space and which moves in space ? The great Taou 
is the parent of space, and space is the parent of 
heaven and earth; and heaven and earth produced 
men and things. 

The venerable prince (Taou) arose prior to the 



50 

great original, standing at the commencement of the 
mighty wonderful, and floating in the ocean of deep 
obscurity. He is spontaneous and self-existing, pro- 
ducd before the beginning of emptiness, commencing 
prior to uncaused existences, pervading all heaven and 
earth, whose beginning and end no years can circum- 
scribe. 

Before heaven and earth were divided, ere the great 
principles of nature were distinguished, amid the ocean 
of vast obscurity and universal stillness, there was a 
spontaneous concretion, out of which came a thousand 
milhon particles of primary matter, which produced 
* emptiness.' Then, after nine hundred and ninety- 
nine billions of Kalpas* had passed away, the thousand 
million particles of primary matter again concreted, 
and produced ' space :' after another period of equal 
length, the particles of primary matter again concreted, 
and produced ' chaos.' After chaos was settled, heaven 
and earth divided, and human beings were born." 

" The votaries of this sect talk a great deal about 
virtue, and profess to promote it by abstraction from 
the world, and the repression of desire. They affect 
to despise wealth, fame and posterity ; urging, that at 
death all these distinctions and advantages terminate, 
and the labor bestowed upon them is thrown away. 

According to their principles, as expressed in the 
story of Chuang-tsze, the principal disciple of Laou- 
keun, "riches, and the advantages which they bring, 
are but a short and agreeable dream ; honors and rep- 
utation resemble a brilliant cloud, which soon vanishes. 
The affection of those united by blood and other ties is 
commonly but a vain appearance ; the most tender 
friendships may convert themselves into the bitterest 
strifes. Let us not wear a yoke because it is of gold ; 
nor bear the burden of chains because they consist of 

*A Kalpa is a Hindoo term for time denoting about one thousand ages. 



51 

jewels. Let us purify our minds, moderate our desires, 
and detach ourselves from worldly affection ; let us 
above all things preserve ourselves in a state of liberty 
and joy, which is independent of others." 

Much of their attention is taken up with the study of 
Alchymy ; and they fancy that by the transmutation of 
metals, and the combination of various elements, they 
can produce the philosopher's stone, and the elixir ot 
immortality. Some of them affect to have discovered 
an antidote against death ; and when the powerful in- 
gredients of this angelic potion sometimes produce the 
very effect which they wish to avoid, they say that the 
victims of their experiments are only gone to ramble 
among the genii, and enjoy that immortality above, 
which is not to be found below. Several of the Chinese 
Emperors, deceived by the fair promises of some of 
these alchymists, have taken the draught, and paid the 
penalty. One of them, having procured the elixir at an 
immense expense, ordered it to be brought before him ; 
when one of his officers courageously drank off the 
full contents of the cup, in its way from the com- 
pounder to the throne ; the enraged autocrat ordered 
the offender to be put to death ; but he coolly replied, 
that all their efforts to terminate his existence would be 
vain ; as, having drunk the elixir, his immortality was 
secure ; or, the whole system was founded in error. 
This opened the Emperor's eyes, the minister was par- 
doned, and the pretender driven from court. 

The followers of Taou, like the Athenians of old, arc 
" in all things too superstitious," while the Confucians 
have scarcely determined whether spirits exist or not, 
the advocates of eternal reason profess to have constant 
intercourse with, and control over the demons of the 
invisible world. Chang-Teen-sze, the principal of the 
Taou sect, in China, who, like the Lama of Thibet, is 
supposed to be immortal, or rather whose place is sup- 



52 

plied by a successor as soon as the old one dies, as- 
sumes an authority over Hades. He appoints and re- 
moves the deities of various districts, just as the Em- 
peror does his officers ; and no tutelary divinity can be 
worshipped, or is supposed capable of protecting his 
votaries, until the warrant goes forth under the hand 
and seal of this demon ruler, authorising him to exer- 
cise his functions in a given region. 

From the power which this individual is supposed to 
possess, his handwriting is considered efficacious in ex- 
pelling all noxious influences ; and charms written by 
him are sold at a high price to those afraid of ghostly 
visits or unlucky accidents. In the absence of these 
autographs from the prince of the devils, each priest of 
Taou issues amulets, and large sums of money are 
realized by the disposal of small scraps of yellow paper, 
with enigmatical characters upon them. Having in- 
duced the belief, that this year's imps are not to be terri- 
fied by last year's charms, they are particularly busy 
every new year, in writing out fresh amulets for the 
people ; who vyould not rest securely in their habita- 
tions, unless fully assured that the devil was kept away 
by these infalhble preventatives. 

Death is with them peculiarly unclean ; and when- 
ever it occurs, brings a number of evil influences into 
the dwelling, which are only to be expelled by the sac- 
rifices and prayers of the priest of Taou. This is what 
they call cleansing the house ; and, as it is attended 
with some expense, many prefer turning lodgers and 
strangers in dying circumstances, out of doors, rather 
than have the house haunted with ghosts for years 
afterwards. 

As it is necessary to purify houses, so it is important 
to preserve districts from contagion ; and with this 
view public sacrifices are offered, to which the inhabit- 
ants generally subscribe. One of these solemnities is 



53 

celebrated on the third day of the third moon, when the 
votaries of Taou go barefoot over ignited charcoal, by 
which they fancy that they triumph over the demons 
they dread, and please the gods they adore. On the 
anniversary of the birth of the " high emperor of the 
sombre heavens," they assemble together before the 
temple of this imaginary being, and having made a 
great fire, about fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, they 
go over it barefoot, preceded by the priests and bearing 
the gods in their arms. The previous ceremonies con- 
sist of the chanting of prayers, the ringing of bells, the 
sprinkling of holy water, the blowing of horns, and the 
brandishing of swords, with which they strike the fire, 
in order to subdue the demon, and then dash through 
the devouring element. Much earnestness is manifest- 
ed by those who officiate on these occasions ; and they 
firmly believe, that if they possess a sincere mind, they 
will not be injured by the fire : but alas ! their hearts 
must be very bad, as both priests and people get miser- 
ably burnt on these occasions. 

The Taou sect worship a variety of idols, some of 
which are imaginary incarnations of eternal reason ; 
and others rulers of the invisible world, or presiding 
divinities of various districts. Among the rest are "the 
three pure ones," who are first in dignity; the "pearly 
emperor and supreme ruler," the "most honorable in 
heaven ; the god of the north, the god of fire, with 
lares, and penates, genii and inferior divinities without 
number."* This is by far the least popular of the three 
principal religions. 

In addition to the denominations already mentioned, 
there are also Jews, Mohamedans and Christians, in 
China. The former have a synagogue at Kae-fang-foo, 
the capital of the province of Honau, and are said to 
have entered the country 200 years before Christ, of 

* Medhurst. 



54 

whom, when visited by Pere Gozani in 1707, they were 
ignorant. They are called by the Chinese Tiao-Kin- 
Kiao (the sect that extracts the sinew.) 

The Mahomedans are a more numerous sect. They 
first entered China during the seventh century, and are 
now to be met with in all parts of the country, where 
they enjoy the same privileges as the rest of the Empe- 
ror's subjects, and are fully admitted to government 
offices. They are said to number as many as .3,000 in 
the city of Canton, where they have a Mosque, which 
with its lofty pagoda, or minaret, is a conspicuous 
object in a view of the city from the river. Unlike 
their Chinese brethren they disclaim idolatry. 

Christianity, according to the researches of the 
learned, was early introduced into China ; and Asse- 
mannus affirms that Thomas, the apostle, having: done 
much for the establishment of the Christian faith in 
India, passed over to a country on the east, called 
China, where he preached the Gospel, and founded a 
church in the city of Cambulu (Peking :) after which 
he returned jto Malabar. 

The next intimation of the introduction of Christian- 
ity into China, is given in the famous marble tablet, 
which was dug up at Se-gnan-foo in the year 1625. 
The inscription, in Chinese and Syriac, describes the 
principal doctrines of the Gospel, and commences by 
stating the existence of the living and true God, the 
creation of the world, the fall of man, and the mission 
of Jesus Christ. It further states, that in A. D. 636, a 
Nestorian Christian teacher came from Ta-tsin (the 
Chinese name for Arabia and India) to China; and 
that the Emperor, after examining his doctrines, author- 
ized the preaching of Christianity among the people. 
A fac simile of this tablet is to be seen in the hbrary of 
the Vatican at Rome. 

The Nestorians, according to Moshiem, penetrated 



55 

into China about the end of the seventh century, and 
estabhshed several churches. In the time of Genghis- 
Khan, they were scattered over Tartary where they 
flourished till the beginning of the fifteenth century, 
when they were probably nearly exterminated by the 
celebrated Tartar conqueror, Timur or Tamerlane, 
a staunch Mahomedan and sworn enemy to all infidels, 
whose head was adorned with twenty-seven crowns, the 
spoils of conquered kings ; and who aspired to the do- 
minion of the world. 

The Roman Catholics first entered China in the latter 
part of the thirteenth century, and during the next hun- 
dred years had a fine opportunity of propagating their 
rehgion, but quarrelling with the Nestorians, it is sup- 
posed they made but few converts, and were persecuted 
and expelled in common with the latter by the Mahom- 
edans. 

The empire appears to have been neglected by the 
Christian world, from this period until the middle of 
the sixteenth century, when the Jesuits first made their 
appearance. Our limits will not admit of a detailed 
history of their success. From that period to the pres- 
ent they have at times been in high favor at court, 
counting their converts by hundreds of thousands, some 
of them, the powerful of the land and even members of 
the imperial family, and at others, they have been per- 
secuted unto death. These persecutions were brought 
upon them in some instances by the Budhists and Taou- 
ists, and in others, by their own zeal bringing them in 
contact with the doctrines of the deified Koong-foo- 
tsze ; but the expulsion of the Catholics from the inte- 
rior of the empire is mainly attributable to disputes 
arising amongst the different orders of Jesuits, Domin- 
icians, &c. They are still prohibited from entering 
the Celestial Empire, or disseminating their doctrines 
amongst the Chinese, and in 1820, a French mission- 



56 

ary was strangled in the province of Hoopih, by order 
of the government. Notwithstanding the risk they run 
they continue to labor secretly for the maintenance of 
the Komish religion in China, and have missionaries 
and Catholic communities in many of the provinces, 
and even in Peking they are said to number 26,000 
members under the care of two French priests. Among 
the Catholic missionaries, many have proved them- 
selves men of great zeal, splendid talents, and finished 
scholars, and have rendered the Empire good service 
as astronomers and engineers. 

The first Protestant missionary to China, was Dr. 
Morrison, who was sent out by the London Missionary 
Society, and arrived in China in 1807, where he re- 
mained till his death. He succeeded in translating the 
scriptures into Chinese, wrote several minor works on 
the language, and formed a copious Chinese and En- 
glish dictionary. The English and American Mission- 
aries, who have gone out since, have added to the 
foundation commenced by Morrison, and the works of 
Medhurst, Bridgman, Wilhams, and others, are valua- 
ble aids to the student. We believe that thus far, no 
Protestant missionary has penetrated into the interior ; 
but confined as they are to the borders of the empire, 
they have been dihgent in founding schools, hospitals, 
and printing presses, and in publishing and dissemi- 
nating the gospel and tracts among its myriads of idol- 
aters. Their works are sent into the interior by every 
opportunity, and in this respect, the hospitals are of 
great assistance, as many of the patients, hearing of the 
wonderful cures performed by Dr. Parker, at Canton, 
and the medical missionaries at other places, come 
from a great distance for relief, and the wants of the 
soul and body are administered to at the same time. 

The coffin seen here, which may seem to the visitor 
to be very large, is one rather under the ordinary size. 



57 

Some of them are made of immense slabs of sandal, or 
other foreign odoriferous wood, and costs large sums. 
It is said that Houqua's coffin cost one thousand dol- 
lars, and that it is not unusual for the rich to pay this 
price. In these large boxes, made air tight with chu- 
nam and varnished inside and out, the remains of the 
wealthy are often kept above ground many years, 
awaiting the decision of the geomancers, concerning 
the fortunate day and place of interment, which is sup- 
posed to have a great influence upon the future for- 
tunes of the family. Water and white ants are the two 
things principally to be avoided in the selection of a 
place of burial ; and as the Chinese do not allow inter- 
ments in cities and villages, the burial grounds gener- 
ally occupy barren hills, which are covered with tombs 
similar to the one seen here. All of them are in the 
exact form of the Greek si, (omega) and, as Davis re- 
marks, if taken in the sense of " the end," it is an odd 
accidental coincidence. To perform " the rites at the 
M/5" is synonymous with "the tombs in Chinese," so 
universally are elevated spots of ground, selected for 
cemeteries. 

According to the Chinese Repository, "when a 
Chinese is at the point of death, his friends put a piece 
of silver to his mouth, and carefully cover his nose and 
ears, superstitious practices calculated to aggravate his 
disease and hasten his death. Scarcely is he dead, 
when they make a hole in the top of the house, in or- 
der to allow the spirits which have escaped from his 
body, greater facility of exit, and then hasten to bring 
the priests to commence their prayers. When they 
come, they at first set up the tablet of the departed 
soul by the side of the coffin, at the foot of which is a 
table loaded with meat, lamps, and perfumes. All those 
who come to condole with the mourners, and to assist 
at the funeral, enter the hall where the corpse is placed 



58 

and prostrate themselves before the table. Out of the 
house, suspended upon bamboos, numerous burning 
papers, upon which figures are traced, are seen flutter- 
ing in the breeze. While the priests are reciting their 
prayers, (which is generally during several days,) beating 
time as they say them, none of the viands are eaten. 
The priests from time to time, call upon all to weep, 
and thereupon relatives and visitors approach the 
corpse, and nothing is heard but sobs and groans. 
Amid these preliminaries to the funeral repast, if a new 
comer arrives, and proceeds to weep over the corpse, 
all the rest must join with him. Meantime, the priests, 
by force of their prayers make a breach in the nether 
world, for the escape of the departed spirit. It always 
goes there on ^leaving the body, and they know in what 
part of Tartarus it is detained, and what it suffers. 
The soul, when once out of hell, has to pass over a 
bridge, built across a river of blood, filled with ser- 
pents, and other venomous creatures. This passage is 
dangerous, because that upon the bridge there are dev- 
ils lying in wait to throw it into the accursed stream. 
But at length the soul passes over, and the priests give 
it a letter of recommendation to one of the ministers of 
Budha, who will procure it a reception into the west- 
ern heavens. According to the doctrine of the priests, 
every man has three souls; the first comes to five in 
the body in some of the forms of transmigration ; the 
second goes to hades ; and the third resides in the tab- 
let, which has been prepared for it." 

On the expiration of twenty-one days the funeral 
procession generally takes place, the tablet being con- 
veyed in a gilded sedan, or pavilion, with incense and 
offerings before it, and accompanied by music resem- 
bling the Scottish bag-pipe, with the continual repeti- 
tion of three successive strokes on a sort of drum. 
The relations of both sexes follow, clad in such suits of 



59 

coarse, white grass cloth, and strips of the same mate- 
rial, as are seen in this case. The coffin is carried by 
four men, or oftener by eight on account of its weight, 
and is preceded by one or two who go before the pro- 
cession, and throw pieces of paper in the road, to pur- 
chase a free passage for the corpse, for fear that it 
should be stopped by spirits. When they reach the place 
of sepulture, which has been inspected and pronounced 
good, they bury the dead under a discharge of rockets 
and crackers. " After the interment, the tablet of the 
deceased is brought back in procession, and, if the 
family be rich, it is placed in the hall of ancestors ; if 
poor, in some part of the house, Avith incense before it." 
In any case a feast is made in memory and honor of the 
deceased, at which everybody is admitted, and if the 
family are in easy circumstances, it is' a good windfall 
to the poor of the neighborhood who all assemble on 
the occasion. " The original and strict period of 
mourning (according to the ritual) is three years for a 
parent, but this is commonly reduced in practice to 
thrice nine, or twenty-seven months, during which an 
officer of the highest rank must retire to his house, 
unless under a particular dispensation from the Empe- 
ror. The full period of three years must elapse before 
children can marry subsequent to the death of their 
parents. During the period of mourning, the orna- 
mental ball, denoting rank, is taken from the cap, as 
well as the tuft of crimson silk which falls over the 
latter. As the Chinese shave their heads, the neglect 
and desolation of mourning are indicated by letting the 
hair grow ; for the same reason that some nations, who 
wear their hair long, shave it during that period. On 
the death of the Emperor, the same observances are 
kept, by his hundreds of millions of subjects, as on the 
death of the parents of each individual ; the whole Em- 
pire remains unshaven for the space of one hundred 



days, while the period of mourning apparel lasts longer 
and all officers of government take the ball and crimson 
silk from their caps. 



CASE V, 

Chinaman smoking opium. 
Lady ; wife of the former. 
Female attendant with tea. 
Couch, tables, chairs, tea poys, book case, ^c, made of 
bamboo. Paintings on the wall. Lanterns suspended 
from the ceiling. Door screen embroidered with gold. 

The room in which these figures are placed is en- 
closed with a species of bamboo work, of a light and 
tasty fashion, much admired by the Chinese, who con- 
struct entire houses in this manner to ornament their 
grounds, and as cool retreats to retire to in the heat of 
summer. The furniture is made entirely of bamboo, as 
well as the frames of the lanterns, and serve to exhibit 
some of the innumerable uses to which this plant is 
applied in China, and the ingenuity and taste displayed 
in its manufacture. 

The male figure here represents a person in easy 
circumstances, who is somewhat advanced in this slavish 
habit, reclining upon a couch with the pipe to his mouth ; 
and a tray, containing the prepared opium in a small 
porcelain box, the opium lamp with its peculiar glass 
shade, and the small implements necessary to apply the 
opium to the pipe and to clean the latter when requi- 
site. The posture in which this figure is seen is that in 
which all opium smokers indulge, and the pipe from its 
peculiar construction is confined entirely to opium 



61 

smoking. A person never having seen this instrument 
used would be puzzled to know how to apply the opium ; 
it is as follows : — a quantity of the prepared opium, 
(which looks like very thick molasses) about the size of 
a small pea, is taken upon the point of a steel instru- 
ment and held over the flame of the lamp, where it is 
kept turning during a few seconds, it is then applied to 
the small aperture in the top of the large earthern bowl 
of the pipe to which it attaches itself and the point of 
the instrument, after being pushed into the hole and 
turned round to detach it from the opium, is drawn out. 
It is now ready for smoking, and the person pressing 
the end of the thick stem of the pipe against the par- 
tially opened lips, and holding the opium on the bowl 
over the light, inspires deeply ; the smoke passes into 
the lungs and being retained as long as the person can 
hold his breath comfortably, is respired in a dense white 
cloud through the nostrils. After a few whiffs a new 
supply of opium is necessary. 

The wife of the opium smoker is here seated near 
him upon the couch with the tobacco pipe in her hand, 
and is about taking a cup of tea. Some of the daugh- 
ters of Han are said to be addicted to the use of opium 
as well as the sons ; but the proportion of the former to 
the latter is probably as that of females with us who 
drink ardent spirits compared to the males. 

The female servant in this case varies but little from 
those in the cases already described. 

" The bamboo (Bamhusa arundinacea) is indigenous 
in all the southern countries of Asia, in the greater 
part of China, and in the West Indies. By long culti- 
vation and care, it has become sufficiently hardy to 
grow as far north as Peking, which is in nearly the 
same parallel with New York. The bamboo is called 
by the Chinese " Chuh,^^ and the long period during 
which they have cultivated it, and the desire to pro- 



62 

cure new and singular kinds for the gardens of the 
wealthy, have produced many varieties. A Chinese 
botanist, in treating on this plant, observed in the be- 
ginning of his book, that he could not undertake so 
much as to name all the varieties, and would therefore 
confine himself to a consideration of sixty-three of the 
principal ! 

" The usual height of the bamboo is between 40 and 
50 feet, but they sometimes reach 60 or 70. The 
diameter varies from that of a pipe stem to seven and 
eight inches. The color of the outside is not always 
yellow, but has been made to vary into chestnut, black, 
&c. The black bamboo is a favorite in the parterres 
and gardens of the rich. The process by which the 
color has been changed, from its natural yellow to a 
black, is unknown, except in China. 

" The bamboo is so useful to the Chinese and their 
partiality for it so great, that it may justly be called 
their national plant. The many purposes to which 
they apply it are truly surprising. They press it into 
use on the water and on the land. In literature and 
confectionary ; as well as in navigation and clothing, 
this useful plant is found necessary. Its services are 
required in building the house and clothing its inmates; 
and it is indispensable in the school-room and the police 
office. To the agriculturist, the carpenter, and the 
seaman, this plant serves many useful purposes. The 
young and tender shoots of the bamboo are used as a 
vegetable for the table in different ways ; if cut as soon 
as they appear above the ground, they are almost as 
tender and delicate as asparagus. They are white and 
palatable, and when in this state are used as pickles, 
as greens, as a sweetmeat, and as a medicine. The 
fondness for these young shoots is so general, that they 
are made articles of commerce, and are sent to the 
capital and all parts of the empire. They often form a 



6S 

part in the feasts of the rich, they constitute an im- 
portant article of diet for the priests, and all classes use 
the pickle as a relish with rice and other vegetable 
dishes. 

" The manufacture of paper consumes great quanti- 
ties of this plant, but the paper made from it is unfit for 
writing upon with a pen and is of a yellow color. 

" The roots of the bamboo are employed by the 
Chinese in making grotesque images ; the gnarled and 
crooked pieces, are wrought, with the aid of a little 
fancy, into the shapes of men, animals, &c. The di- 
visions of the joints being taken out, the tube forms ex- 
cellent water pipes, defended from injury if laid under 
ground, by the hard exterior. Those which are very 
straight have been used for astronomical instruments. 
Vessels for holding water, buckets and measures of ca- 
pacity, are made of those joints which are of sufficient 
diameter. A large hollow piece is tied to the backs of 
children living in boats, which buoys them up till aid 
arrives, if they chance to fall overboard. The light- 
ness of the bamboo compared with its length and di- 
ameter, fits it admirably for tracking poles, for sup- 
porters of the mat sails of the Chinese, for roofs, and 
for poles on which to carry burdens. A frame of four 
bamboos is made, which the Chinese sailors use as a 
life preserver at sea. 

" The manufacture of chairs, stools, tables and boxes 
from the bamboo gives employment to many laborers. 
Fences are usually constructed of it, and the minor 
uses of the poles are almost innumerable. Mats of dif- 
ferent degrees of fineness are manufactured from the 
long internodes. A cheap covering for boats, houses 
and sheds is made of the wide shps of this plant. Ropes 
are also made from the small twigs, but they are not 
adapted to long use. The simple instruments of the 
farmer are made from the bamboo and the leaves are 



64 

used to thatch the houses of the poor, manure the soil, 
line the chests of tea and by sewing them together in 
one direction, a rain cloak is made, off which the water 
runs as from a roof. Hats and umbrellas are made of 
bamboo to a great amount Lampwicks are made of 
the pith of the young plants, which are, however, ill 
adapted to that use. The handles of the writing pen- 
cils, arrows, pikes and spears, and also scaffolds and 
baskets are formed of different parts. In ancient times, 
before the discovery of paper, the large bamboos were 
split and flattened by means of water and heat, and the 
sides attached to each other by wires ; in this state, 
they were used instead of scrolls and books. The cu- 
ticle is of sufficient hardness to produce fire by friction. 
Much skill and taste is shown in its manufacture into 
fans, which are an indispensable article to every Chi- 
nese ; and the work sometimes bestowed upon a single 
one is sufficient to give employment to a laborer for 
weeks. The tubes of tobacco pipes are almost univer- 
sally made of the bamboo ; as are also a great portion 
of the walking canes which are exported to western 
countries. Finally, the bamboo is used by the govern- 
ment of China as one of the most efficient means of 
maintaining order and enforcing obedience. It is ap- 
plied to the backs of offenders in cases of small delin- 
quency, and different sizes of the plants are adapted to 
the several grades of crime." 

According to the Chinese Repository, " the use of 
Opium can be traced to an earlier date than that of Al- 
cohol, which has been known as an intoxicating drink 
for upwards of nine hundred years. The Grecians ap- 
pear to have been acquainted with the soporific powers 
of opium ; and as a medicine it has been employed for 
many centuries by all civilized countries. It was in- 
troduced into the Materia Medica, more than two hun- 
dred years before the Christian era." 



65 

The operation of opium upon the constitution, greatly 
depends, hke that of alcohol, upon the quantity and 
frequency of its being administered ; the age, tempera- 
ment, and habits of the individual, and the climate of 
the country in which he resides. Men of strong consti- 
tutions using the drug in moderation, like a similar class 
amongst us who indulge in strong drink may enjoy 
health and attain a good old age, but the number of 
such cases in the aggregate is small, and amongst the 
mass, when the excitement obtained by the use of a 
little begins to diminish, the dose is imperceptibly in- 
creased until the victims, to whose comfort it has be- 
come essential, finding their resolutions too weak to 
overcome the habit, shut their eyes to the future, and 
stifling their bitter reflections with the opium pipe, 
rush headlong to deeper misery and eventual destruc- 
tion. 

" A disposition to smoke this fascinating drug com- 
mences frequently in early hfe, particularly when the 
person has friends addicted to the practice. He is in- 
duced, at the onset, to try it from curiosity or persua- 
sion, or because it is fashionable. At first he smokes 
very seldom, and perhaps not more than two or three 
pipes at a time. Gradually, either from a false taste 
being acquired, or a desire for a renewal of the pleas- 
ure it imparts, the pipe becomes a more frequent com- 
panion, and generally in the course of a year or two it 
is in daily use. The quantity of extract at first smoked 
may be about five or six grains, which is equal to three 
or four pipes. Very soon this is increased to twelve 
grains a day, six at night and six in the morning. By 
and by it is increased to eighteen ; and from that to 
twenty-five and thirty; and if circumstances permit, 
and the appetite for it is strong, it is gradually increased 
to from sixty to one hundred and twenty grains, which 
is about the average amount ; for though the greater 



number use less, many cases have been known of from 
two hundred to four hundred and sixty grains being 
smoked daily." 

A more seductive luxury than opium cannot exist. 
It does not intoxicate, as is generally supposed, raising 
the animal spirits to a high pitch, like fermented liquors, 
for a short time, and then leaving the individual in a 
proportionably depressed state ; but on the contrary, it 
is asserted by Chinese smokers, supported by the con- 
fessions of De Quinsy, the Enghsh opium eater, and 
others, that its effects never approach intoxication, 
that it calms the feelings, and imparts a sense of inex- 
pressible, quiet enjoyment, which is kept up for hours, 
and to renew which, and not to escape from a depressed 
stage, which never follows its pleasant effects, the pipe 
is Appealed to again. Its narcotic properties begin to 
appear as soon as the others diminish, and after passing 
the hours of the night in quiet slumber, accompanied 
by the most delightful dieams, the person rises in the 
morning as refreshed and vigorous as if no opium had 
been used. , These are its effects for several years, 
* during which the habit becomes fixed and the dose is 
increased, in proportion as its effect upon the system 
diminishes, until a reaction gradually takes place. The 
enjoyment, which has been on the decrease for some 
time, now ceases entirely, the whole system has become 
deranged, the members of the body refuse to perform 
their functions without the aid of opium, and the poor 
victim finds himself too late, a slave to the drug, which 
he is now obliged to use to escape the most terrible and 
indescribable tortures both of body and mind. 

The late Emperor, Keaking, early perceived the 
danger to which his subjects were exposed, and in 
1796 interdicted the introduction of opium by a law, 
making those found guilty of smuggling and selling it 
liable to banishment and death, and the smokers subject 



67 • 

to the bamboo and cangue. This law, as amended by 
Taou-Kwang, was made still more rigorous, and Man- 
darins and their subordinates infringing it, were decreed 
to suffer one degree more severely than private indi- 
viduals. 

But all the efforts of the Emperor to stop the progress 
of the drug were unavailing against the enormous bribes 
the smugglers could afford to pay ; and the profits of 
the trade were known to be so great, that the fast sail- 
ing boats, kept filled with men and arms by the govern- 
ment, for the suppression of the traffic, were used in 
many instances by the Mandarins having charge of 
them as a means of monopolizing it 

The Emperor, exasperated on finding himself foiled 
in his laudable endeavors to stop the growing evil, and 
determined to leave no means untried to arrest it, sent 
Lin, an officer in whom he could confide, to Canton, 
invested with extraordinary powers to carry out his 
measures. He arrived in Canton, in March, 1839, and 
by stopping all trade, and threatening, and forcibly de- 
taining the foreigners residing at Canton, together 
with the British superintendent of trade, Capt. Elliot, 
who went up there to get his countrymen released, he 
compelled the surrender of all the opium then in port, 
amounting to 20,283 chests, which he destroyed at the 
Bogue (mouth of Canton river,) in June, according to 
the Emperor's orders. 

After the delivery of the opium, the foreigners were 
obliged to give a bond not to engage in the opium 
trade in fiiture, sixteen of their number were banished, 
by an edict, from the Celestial Empire ; the opium ves- 
sels were ordered to leave the Chinese waters, and the 
regular traders to enter the port or leave also. The 
opium trade being continued on the coast, the English 
felt insecure, and refusing to enter the port as required, 
Lin, by a course of severe measures, undertook to drive 



them from his master's dominions. This brought on the 
war, during which the Son of Heaven issued repeated 
orders for " the extermination of the rebellious Eng- 
lish ;" for rebellious tributaries they were considered 
by the Chinese, having sent tribute (as the presents of 
Lords MacCartney and Amherst were called) to the 
Imperial Court. But " the rebellious English " were 
not much alarmed, and collecting a force upon the 
coast of China, they destroyed or dispersed the redoubt- 
able army and navy of the Emperor wherever they met 
them. In fact the Chinese appear at first to have been 
entirely unprepared, except at the south, to show any 
effectual resistance to the attack of Europeans, and the 
whole of their defences seem to have been incapable of 
arresting the progress of a mere handful of British 
soldiers. 

For about three years they measured their strengthy 
without avail, against European arms and discipline, 
and several times, when the English humanely consent- 
ed to treat, the Chinese, who, it afterwards appearedy 
only wished to gain time, violated their agreements ; 
until, becoming wearied with the bad faith of the Chi- 
nese high officers, the English took the City of Canton, 
(which was immediately ransomed for ^6,000,000 and 
some other considerations,) and sending an expedition 
to the north took several important cities on the coast, 
entered the Yang-tsz-kiang (Child of the Ocean) took 
Shanghai, and proceeding up the river to the city of 
Chinkiang took possession of that place and blockaded 
the imperial canal. Continuing onwards, they soon 
appeared before the walls of Nanking, the ancient cap- 
ital of the empire, and were ready to attack that city 
when the imperial commissioners. Keying and Ilipu 
sued for peace, and after several friendly conferences 
with the English plenipotentiary, Sir Henry Pottingery 
a treaty of peace was formally signed on the 29th ot 



69 

August, 1842, by which the Chinese agreed to pay 
;^2 1,000,000 indemnity, for the expenses of the Enghsh 
during the war, to open the ports of Shanghai, Ningpo, 
Fuchau, and Amoy, to all nations, and to cede the 
island of Hong Kong to great Britain. 

Thus was the war between China and Great Britain 
ended, which began by the determined means pursued 
by the Emperor to put a stop to the opium trade in his 
dominions. The result has proved that he is powerless 
in this respect; and since the English government vir- 
tually refuse to put an end to the evil, by continuing 
the growth of opium in their East India possessions for 
the China market, the cure can only be effected by 
some great moral action amongst the Chinese people 
similar to that of the temperance cause in our own 
country and others. 



CASE Vi. 

Chinese Singing Case ; such as are seen in the business 
streets of the cities during the season of thanksgiving 
to the gods of the elements, wealth, ^c.,for their pro- 
tection and assistance during the previous year. The 
figures, ^c, on the panneis are all beautifully made of 
various colored silk crapes, worked in relief 

In the autumn of every year, the shopkeepers in each 
of the streets of Canton, subscribe according to their 
means to illuminate and otherwise adorn their respec- 
tive streets, as a means of propitiating the gods and 
thanking them for protecting their houses and prop- 
erty from the ravages of the elements and prospering 
their business during the preceding year. Interspersed 



TO 

among glass chandeliers, which are suspended overhead 
in the centre of the streets, are groups of small figures 
representing scenes in Chinese plays, and at intervals 
are hollow pyramids, resting upon the houses on each 
side of the way, their interiors covered with thin look- 
ing glass and foils of various colors, which reflect the 
light from hundreds of tapers suspended within, and 
present to the spectators below, a gorgeous and daz- 
zling appearance. Here and there along the sides of 
the streets, cases like the one seen here, are fitted 
up in the entrances to crossways, in vacant places, or 
shops, in which musicians and singers contribute their 
part to the entertainment. These illuminations are 
kept up during several nights in a street, according to 
the amount subscribed by the residents, and are then 
transferred to another. 



CASE VII. 

Merchant. 

Parsee purchaser, in the peculiar dress of his countrymen. 

Clerk, 

Coolie, setting the table. 

Beggar soliciting charity. 

This case is a facsimile of a handsome mercantile 
establishment in the city of Canton, where such large 
and beautiful frames, as the one over the shelves at 
the back of the case, paraphernaHa, and paintings of 
Jos' are only seen in the large stores and hongs ; but 
the shrine to the god of wealth at the door and some 
representation of a deity inside are met with in the 
smallest establishments. 

The merchant seated behind his counter with his 



71 

" Soong-poon,^^ or counting board beside him, entering 
the orders given by the Parsee ; the clerk about taking 
down a piece of goods pointed out by the purchaser; 
the cooUe preparing a meal in the front part of the 
store, as is customary in Chinese shops ; and the beg- 
gar at the door in the act of beating a small gong to 
call attention to his needy situation, completes a scene, 
many counterparts of which, are daily met with at 
Canton. 

The Chinese are good merchants. They are sys- 
tematic, obliging to customers, and indefatigable in the 
pursuit of money. The word of the large dealers is 
entirely to be depended upon, and the Hong merchants 
are noted for their honor in mercantile transactions. 
So much cannot be said of the generality of small 
traders, with whom foreigners come in contact, who 
are as great rogues as can be found anywhere, and 
most of them will ask four or five times as much for 
an article as they expect to get, and by their well 
feigned surprise if an attempt is made to beat them 
down often impose upon strangers. The Enghsh lan- 
guage is most barbarously used in China, and conver- 
sations like the following daily take place in old and 
new China streets, which are near the factories, or 
foreign residences, and are filled with small shops which 
depend upon foreigners for support. A person saun- 
tering along one of these thoroughfares, is accosted by 
some shopkeeper on the lookout, with " chin chin ! wan- 
chy some littey chow chow ting to-day ? If an undecided 
answer is given, this question is followed by, ^^walk in 
take ches gentlemen.''^ At the same time receding into 
the shop ; where, if he is followed, he continues : jus 
now wat ting wanchy f " The person, if he understands 
the language, perhaps answers, " no sabby true. Can 
see, can sabby," and begins looking about. While 
he is doing this, the shopkeeper is not idle. " You 



72 

missy vmt name?^^ "My name is Jones." ^^Au! Missy 
Yones! My tinkey you lib Missy Wetmau house.'''' "No! 
1 live Suey liong number two." ^'- Au! you lib Missy 
Fauk^s house. My sobby he velly plopper ; Missy Fauks 
my numbar one good flend, hab gib my ple-enty pidgeon. 
My tinkey you Oh Canton Missy Yones. ''^ "Yes: have 
come Canton side one time before." ^^ Jus now hab got 
noosf^^ "No. What's the price of this fan?" ''Au! 
dat hab number one Nankin ting ; two dollar plum cashy 
hab true price. ''^ "I'll give you half a dollar." ^^ Half 
dollar! Hy-yah! how canP'' Maskee one dollar haf.^^ 
"No. 1 wont give you but half a dollar." " Hyyah! 
numbar one ting haf dollar ! no ca-an maskee one dol- 
lar.^'' "No. Half dollar." ^^ Jus-now-no-can-Ketchy 
any-plojit ! Maskee ! hab litty pidgeon, haf dollar can 
do: no ye wanchy chesaman? hab got numbar one.^'' 
" No. Here take pay for the fan out of this dollar." 
'■^Hy-yah! dis hab Kow chin! mus loosy too muchy, no 
got chop dolla V " No. S'pose no can take that, can 
keep the fan." " Maskee! bumby spose wanchy Ketchy 
cargo pidgeot}, my chin chinny you too muchy take care 
my.'''' And the universal chin chin accompanies the de- 
parture of the visitor. 

The Spanish or Portuguese word "sa-be," or the 
French " Savez," is used instead of the English words 
know and understand: and maskee, for no matter, or I 
I don't care. Pidgeon, is the common Chinese pronun- 
i 1 ciation of business; but those who try to speak cor- 
j I rectly call it pidgeoness. "Hy-yah" is the Chinese ex- 
clamation of surprise, and chin chin, means good morn- 
ing, how do you do ? thank you, &c. The other words 
will probably be recognized. The Chinese have a 
whimsical preference for some Spanish dollars over 
others. They divide them into old head, new head, and 
Kowchin, dollars. The first bear the head of Carolus, 
with the stamp of some particular mint and always com- 



73 

mand a premium, while new heads, (just like the others 
except the mint stamps,) and Kowchin, (those bearing 
the head of Ferdinand,) together with North and South 
American dollars are at a considerable discount. 

The Parsees are those descendants of the ancient 
Guebers or worshippers of fire, who, driven out of Persia 
on account of their religion, by the usurper Cahph 
Omar, sought refuge in Hindostan. After the English 
obtained possession of Bombay, many Parsees came to 
that place, and thence went to Calcutta, Madras, China, 
&c. The religion of the Parsees is called Muzdyesne, 
or Yezdaprust, meaning worshiper of God. By for- 
eigners it has been contracted and called Magi. They 
worship one supreme being, whom they call the eter- 
nal spirit, or Yerd. The sun, moon, and planets they 
believe to be peopled with rational beings, acknowledge 
light as the primitive cause of good, darkness as that of 
evil, and worship fire, (as it is said,) from which they 
have received their name. But they themselves say, 
that they do not worship fire, but only find in it an 
image of the incomprehensible God, on which account 
they ofier up their prayers before a fire, and maintain 
one uninterruptedly burning on holy places, which their 
prophet Zoroaster (so called by the Greeks, meaning 
the living star,) they say, kindled thousands of years 
ago. Their religion requires them to say their prayers 
five times a day. They do not allow other sects to 
join them and are strict in their observances. If any 
culinary vessel be touched by one of another caste, it 
must be thrice washed to purify it ; and if it chance to 
be a mineral substance it can never aa^ain be consid- 
ered pure. Their laws do not admit of polygamy and 
are peculiar in the disposal of the dead, who are not 
buried but exposed, in large buildings made for the 
purpose without roofs, to be devoured by vultures and 
other ravenous birds. The number of the followers of 



74 

Zoroaster in Persia is supposed to be 200,000. The 
number in India is about 60,000. Almost all those re- 
siding under the British government are merchants, or 
servants of merchants. There are no tailors, barbers, 
&c., among them, and they are dependent upon others 
for the production of almost all the necessaries of life. 
The fev^ in China are principally natives of Bombay, 
and like most of the other foreigners, look forward to 
the accumulation of a competency to return home with. 

Chinese shopmen generally eat but two meals a day. 
One about 10, A. M., and the other about 5, P. M. At 
each of which it is calculated one person eats about 
two thirds of a pound of rice, but as there is a little va- 
riety upon the table, consisting of cakes and sweet- 
meats, the two meals cost the same as the three eaten 
by mechanics ; that is ten cents per diem for each in- 
dividual. The table, dishes, &c., which the coolie is 
setting out, are such as are commonlv used. It will 
probably be noticed, that there is nothing upon the 
table resembling knives and forks. These are not 
used by the Chinese at table. The little sticks, at the 
sides of the bovi^ls, called chop sticks, are used instead, 
and the facility with which they shovel rice into their 
mouths, and fish small pieces of meat, &c., out of their 
stews with them, is truly astonishing. 

The number of beggars at Macao and Canton, and 
their pitiable condition, arrests the attention of every 
new comer. It is said that they congregate at these 
places from all parts of the country, and that at Canton 
the number of the most wretched class exceeds 5,000. 
The blind are very numerous and generally go about in 
parties. They enter a store wherever they hear the 
voice of a purchaser and set up such a horrid noise 
with their small gongs, bamboos, and mournful singing 
that the shopkeepers are generally glad to give them 
the customary sum of one cash to get rid of them and 



75 

the vermin with which they are covered. Cutaneous 
a,ffections are very common amongst the Chinese, who 
appear to be ignorant of the efficacy in such cases of 
sulphur, and other simple remedies. But the most pit- 
iable objects are those afflicted with leprosy, which the 
Chinese consider incurable and contagious, and a per- 
son found to have it is immediately deserted by his 
friends and relations. This disease appears to be con- 
fined to the southwestern provinces, and is supposed to 
be owing to the humidity of the atmosphere. In Can- 
ton there is a government lazar house, appropriated to 
lepers, and in addition a part of the city is appropriated 
to them, but the poorest are allowed to roam about the 
streets to the great annoyance of shopkeepers and 
passers by, from whom they solicit alms. 



CASE VIII. 

Lady, wife efa wealthy Chinaman/ 

Young ladi/, friend of the former, preparing to smoke. 

Handmaid playing upon the ^^Pei-pa,^^ a species of guitar. 

Maid servant lighting the young lady^s pipe. 

Small boy, son of first lady. 

do. younger son of first lady. 

A large and beautiful Screen made of paintings on glass; 
chairs and tables made of king wood with variegated 
marble tops, superbly embroidered door screen, vase 
containing a peacock feather fan of 2.00 eyes, fruit up- 
on the table, scrolls on the wall, lanterns suspended 
^from the ceiling, <^c. ^c. 

This case, or rather room, is a perfect facsimile of 
Hn apartment in a wealthy Chinaman's dwelling. The 



76 

richly carved, painted, and gilded work, of which it is' 
formed, together with the furniture within are in pecu- 
liar Chinese taste, and entirely the productions of the 
Celestial Empire. 

Here the visitor is introduced into a Chinaman's 
sanctum sanctorum ; the female apartments, where 
Asiatic jealousy will not allow his most intimate friends 
to enter ; nay, the door is even closed against his own 
father, and undutiful sons sometimes flee to the " fra- 
grant apartments " for protection against the wrath of 
an offended parent. 

The mother is playing with her children, the eldest 
of whom is' threatening to throw a lichi at her, whilst 
the youngest is trying to get a cake, held, inadvertently 
by the mother, too high for his little hands to reach. 
This is one of the most life-like scenes in the collec- 
tion. The countenance of the principal figure bears 
the indescribable expression of a mother strongly im- 
pressed upon it, and the children with their little heads 
shaved, leaving only two small tufts of hair done up in 
a fanciful manner on each side, are also true to the 
life ; they are both boys, which are the pride of a Chi- 
naman's heart, for they will perpetuate the family name, 
may become great men in their native land to reflect 
honor on their parents, either alive or dead, and after 
they have passed away, will sacrifice to their manes 
and those of their ancestors. 

The young lady is preparing to smoke a Chinese 
hookah ; she is dressed in pink and green, (the colors 
peculiar to ladies,) her hair is decked with flowers, of 
which the Chinese are very fond, " the golden lihes " 
peep out from beneath her dress, and on the whole she 
is a fair specimen of a Chinese beauty, who, as they 
poetically express it, has " cheeks red as the almond 
flower, mouth like the peach's bloom, waist slender as 
the willow leaf, eyes bright as autumnal ripples, and 



11 

footsteps like the flowers of the water hly.'^ Althotigli 
about to indulge in a luxury which would not be con- 
sidered much of an attraction with us, she is doing 
nothing contrary to the usages of her country where 
both sexes contract the habit of smoking, with pipes 
of various construction, when quite young. The only 
eegars they have are small paper ones, which are not 
much used by the better classes. Snuff appears to be 
monopolized by the men and one of the indispensable 
articles suspended at the waist of a gentleman is a snuff' 
bottle, some of which, elaborately carved from " yu " 
or jade stone, cost several hundred dollars apiece. The 
snuff is taken out of the bottle with a small spoon at^ 
tached to the stopper, laid upon the back of the left 
hand thumb, and conveyed by it to the olfactories. 

The female, with feet of the natural size, playing 
upon the ^^pei-pa,^^ or guitar, is a handmaid, some of 
whom are children of the poorer classes, and others 
those who are in infancy, left by their unnatural 
parents to perish in the streets, if unnoticed by the 
passers by, but if of good personal appearance, are 
taken up by those making it a business, taught numer- 
ous accomplishments, such as embroidery, music, and 
painting, and when old enough, sold as handmaids or* 
personal attendants to the wealthy. 

The servant maid, attending upon the young lady, is 
dressed in clothes suitable to her class, which, while 
not expensive, are at the same time neat and service^ 
able, but her hair is cut and left to hang down in the 
unbecoming manner of all young girls, not of marriage^ 
able age in China. 

The large glass screen, upon the long table, is one 
of the finest specimens of Chinese painting on glass^ 
and will bear the closest inspection. The painting rep- 
resents the branches of a numerous family, paying their 
annual respects to the oldest surviving members. This 



is an ancient custom with the Chinese, and is observed 
by the Emperor, who, upon these occasions, performs 
the " Kotow " (kneels and knocks his head upon the 
ground) before his mother. 

The furniture of this apartment, which is rich and 
massive, is arranged in Chinese style ; the sides of the 
room being occupied with rows of heavy arm chairs 
and tea poys, which are not intended to be moved 
about the apartment as ours are. Several of the chairs 
have landscape marble inserted in the backs, having 
trees and birds upon it. The finest specimens of this 
kind are rare and expensive, as only the natural colors 
of the stone are used. They are made by taking a 
slab of white marble having dark veins below the sur- 
face, and with much labor, rubbing down the exterior 
until spots appear where they are wanted, to form such 
rude representations of natural objects as the stone 
admits of. 

The universal use of tobacco renders the "tom-to's" 
or spittoons seen in a Chinese room in such profusion 
necessary, ayd in the construction and ornamenting of 
these, considerable taste is displayed as the visitor will 
observe. 

The embroidered hanging door screens, in this and 
the bamboo case are of rare beauty, and such as are 
seldom seen, even in China, where these articles are 
used in the interior of dwellings instead of doors. The 
peacock feather fan in the vase is an article of orna- 
ment and is not intended for use, and the fruits upon 
the table are such as are commonly seen in the markets 
at Canton, consisting of oranges, lichis, pomegranates, 
" sam leen," &c. The scrolls on the wall are a kind 
of ornament much prized by the Chinese. They are 
generally choice extracts of moral sentences from the 
works of the ancient sages made by some esteemed 
friend. Those selected by old persons are valued the 
highest. 



79 

The lanterns suspended from the ceiling to this 
room are very unique. They are made of stained horn 
and represent lions and birds. 

The Chinese law does not admit of polygamy, as is 
erroneously supposed by many, although it does of 
concubinage. "A Chinese can have but one 'Tsy' or 
wife, properly so called, who is distinguished by a title, 
espoused with numerous ceremonies, and chosen from 
a rank of life totally different from his ' Tsti' or hand- 
maids, of whom he may have as many as he pleases, 
and though the offspring of the latter possess many of 
the rights of legitimacy (ranking however after the 
children of the wife) this circumstance makes but little 
difference as to the truth of the position. In fact the 
wife is of equal rank with the husband by birth, is es- 
poused with regular marriage ceremonies, possessing 
moreover, certain legal rights, such as they are ; while 
the handmaid is bought for money and received into 
the house nearly like any other domestic." The 'Tsy' 
and the 'Tsii' stand to each other in very much the 
same relation of the Sarah and Hagar of the Old Tes- 
tament. 

If a person has sons by his wife it is considered de- 
rogatory to take a handmaid, but if he has not, it is of 
course allowable, and some of the Chinese have many. 
Pwan-tin-qua, a Mandarin, well known to foreigners at 
Canton, has thirteen, and a former linguist at the same 
place had nineteen. According to Mr. Lay, " the 
dwelling together of wife and concubine, under the 
same roof, does not produce that unhappiness that our 
feelings might teach us to imagine. The sole pro- 
prietorship of a husband's attachments does not enter 
into the calculations of the former, so that she yields to 
the obtrusion of a rival without repining ; and the lat- 
ter is content to find herself in a circle m.uch above her 
birth and parentage. When Chinese ladies are ap- 



80 

pealed to, they allege that there is nothing objection- 
able in the practice. Wife and concubine mix together 
without any symptoms of jealousy and contend that 
neither one nor the other has any right to complain, so 
long as the husband is impartial and loves them both 
alike. 

At home or abroad, in holiday robes or in plain 
clothing, the heart of a Chinese female seems to be at 
all times ready to overflow with mirth and good hu- 
mor. Ill usage or misfortune may make her sad for a 
while, but the smallest efforts to soothe or amuse on 
the part of one whom she values, drives away all her 
heaviness, Confucian philosophy has done its best to 
unfit a Chinese for the possession of such an heritage, 
by assigning to woman nothing but the privilege of 
drudging for her lord. Those well chosen terms of es- 
teem and preference with which we are wont to ad- 
dress females, and the countless variety of polite offices 
which we perform as matters of course, find no place 
either in the written or unwritten laws of Chinese so- 
ciety. Native poetry and romance descant upon the 
accomplishments of the lover and the charms of his 
mistress, and in beautiful terms and imagery eulogize 
the bliss of chaste and well requited love. But these 
sentiments seem to be confined to the poet, whose im- 
agination guided by the promptings of his heart, and 
the refinement of his understanding, portrays what 
ought to be, but what seldom happens. It is hard to 
conceive how a man can behold the object of his best 
affections, and exhibit no desire to show her any marks 
of regard, especially when his heart has been softened 
by education, and no external circumstance interferes 
with the display of his feelings. Whenever the light of 
heaven-born Christianity shall dawn upon this people, 
and begin to dissipate the mists of a diabolical system 
of ethics, which has so lonoj brooded over the land, one 



81 

of the first evidences of its presence will be a restora- 
tion of fair woman to all her rights and privileges ; she 
will then be regarded as she ought to be, " the glory 
of the man," and a Chinese will then behold a paradise 
yielding flowers to embellish his feasts, to adorn the 
friendly board, to refine, ennoble and rejoice his own 

heart." 

"The birth of a female is a matter of grief in China. 

The father and mother, who had ardently hoped in the 
unborn babe, to embrace a son, feel disappointed at 
the sight of a wretched daughter. Many vows and of- 
ferings are made before their idols, in order to propi- 
tiate their favor and secure the birth of a son. The 
mercy of the compassionate Kivamjin especially, is im- 
plored to obtain this precious gift ; but after they have 
spent large sums of money in this pious v/ork, the in- 
exorable goddess fills the house with mourning at the 
birth of a daughter. "Anciently," says Pan-Hwwjpan 
(a Chinese authoress,) the female infant was thrown 
upon some old rags by the side of its mother's bed, and 
for three days was scarcely spoken or thought of. At 
the end of that time it was carried to a temple by the 
father, accompanied by attendants with bricks and tiles 
in their hands." " The bricks and tiles," says Pan- 
Hwuypan in her comment on these facts, " signify the 
contempt and sufiering which are to be her compan- 
ions and her portion. Bricks are of no use except to 
form enclosures, and to be trodden under foot; and 
tiles are useless except when they are exposed to the 
injuries of the air." At the present day as well as an- 
ciently, the female infant is not unfrequently an object 
of disgust to its parents, and of contempt to all the in- 
mates of the family." If a Chinese is asked how many 
children he has, he gives the number of sons ; the 
daughters stand as cyphers in the list of his blessings. 

" Infanticide of females is not unknown among the 

11 



82 

Chinese, and they are far from regarding this crime 
with the horror it deserves. " It is only a female," is 
the answer generally given when they are reproved for 
it." 

The daughters of the wealthy receive something of 
an education, those of the middhng and poorer classes 
generally none at all. 

" The mistress of a family, among the affluent, has 
four waiting maids ; the older ones to take care of her 
clothes, and to attend on her when eating ; the younger 
ones to follow her when she goes out, to hand her tea 
and tobacco, to fan her, &c. These waiting maids are 
not unfrequently slaves, whom she has purchased for 
herself. Besides these she hires several housemaids ; 
(as) one to dress her hair, one to cook her food, one to 
wash her clothes, and one to follow her when she goes 
abroad. 

The master of a family usually has four personal 
servants ; two grown men, who wait upon him at 
meals, take care of his clothes, and attend to all such 
matters ; and two younger persons, to follow him when 
he goes abroad, to carry his pipe, to fan him, and to 
present his cards. He has also four domestics; the 
older carry water, and go to the bazaars ; the younger 
sweep the floors, light the lamps, and wipe the chairs 
and tables." 



83 



CASE IX. 

Itinerant barber exercising his avocation. 

Person being shaved. 

Fortune teller, with table, ^c. 

Street doctor and medicines, 
do. broker with counter, ^c. 

Large map of China at the back of the case, made by the 
Chinese, from the surveys of the early Jesuit missiona- 
ries. The disproportionate size of the rivers, which 
the visitor will undoubtedly notice, is a fault common 
to all Chinese maps. There are also a 7iumher of 
bamboo hats, rush cloaks, ^c. worn by the lower classes, 
on the wall. 

" The number of itinerant workmen of one kind or 
another, which hne the sides of the streets, or occupy 
the areas before pubhc buildings in Chinese towns, is a 
remarkable feature. Fruiterers, pastrymen, cook-stalls, 
venders of gimcracks, and wayside shopkeepers, are 
found in other countries as well as China ; but to see a 
traveling blacksmith or tinker, an itinerant glass mender, 
a peripatetic umbrella mender, a locomotive seal cutter, 
an ambulatory barber, a migratory banker, a perigrina- 
tory apothecary, or a walking shoemaker and cobbler, 
one must travel thitherwards. These moveable estab- 
lishments, together with fortune tellers, herb sellers, 
chiromancers, &c. pretty well fill up the space, so that 
one often sees both sides of the street in Canton liter- 
ally lined with the stalls or tools of persons selhng or 
making something to eat or to wear." 

As the Chinese shave the head as well as the beard 
every ten or twelve days, barbers constitute a numerous 



84 

class in their communities. The greater part are itin- 
erant, and with the chest of drawers, which answers for 
customers to sit upon as well as to contain their tonso- 
rial apparatus, and a water vessel over a small furnace, 
slung on a pole carried on the shoulder, they traverse 
the streets, making known their presence by occasion- 
ally twanging their call, which somewhat resembles the 
pitch pipe used by singers. Their common appellation 
is Ti-tow-le, meaning shave-head-old-man. 

There are 7,300 barbers in the city of Canton, every 
one of whom has been obliged to obtain a license be- 
fore commencing the trade, and all of whom, like the 
other mechanics, form a community whose business is 
regulated by laws made amongst themselves. They 
use no soap in shaving, merely wetting the head and 
face with warm water before applying the razor, which, 
from its short, clumsy blade, appears better suited to 
opening oysters than shaving,^ but which nevertheless 
answers the purpose intended very well. 

The barber's whole apparatus is near him, and his 
razor and other small implements are seen in one of 
the open drsPwers of the case and in his hands. In 
addition to shaving, some of them exercise the function 
of shampooing, and practice cleaning the eye and ear, 
oftentimes to the manifest injury of the former, to dis- 
eases of which, the Chinese are particularly subject. 
A person is here seen undergoing the ear-cleaning ope- 
ration, and the effect produced by the tickhng sensa- 
tion in the ear is faithfully delineated upon his counte- 
nance. The barber's remuneration is generally twenty 
or thirty cash, but no regular charge is made, the 
amount being left entirely to the generosity of his cus- 
tomers. As in other countries, the barber is the repos- 
itory of local information, and his success is usually 
proportioned to his powers of making himself agreeable 
to his customers. 



85 

The Chinese of all classes are very superstitious, and 
fortune tellers consequently abound amongst them, who, 
for a trifling consideration, by consulting the stars, the 
lines on the hand, or by shaking several bamboo slips, 
with characters written on them from a case full, will 
predict with confidence the destiny of an individual. 
Our fortune teller uses the latter method which is the 
most common, and his advertisement informs the public 
of his abilities and charge for the different information 
furnished, whether it be to foretel the fortunes of some 
new born babe, the future fate of some hitherto luckless 
wight, a lucky day for a marriage or funeral, or the 
proper location for a house or tomb. This class pre- 
tend to few secrets ; by taking the characters from the 
slips thrown out and combining them upon the writing 
board according to rules for the different information 
wanted, they form sentences which are explained by 
referring to a book, and frequent appeals are usually 
made to the crowd around as to the correctness of the 
mode of proceeding in obtaining the explanations. 
There are sometimes ten or a dozen of these wise men 
to be seen in the street on the west side of the American 
factories at Canton, in the space of a few hundred feet, 
and generally some of them are Budhist and Taouist 
priests. 

The street doctor is another ambulatory genius met 
with in China, and in Old China street (the one just 
mentioned,) they generally surpass in numbers the for- 
tune tellers. A person can hardly pass through this 
thoroughfare without seeing some of them exhibiting 
their skill in dressing a sore, pulling teeth, or prescrib- 
ing for some of the ills of the body. Some are sur- 
rounded with roots and herbs, some have long strings 
of teeth, which they have extracted, in front of them, 
and others, like our Esculapius, have their medicines 
exposed in small jars for sale, with printed advertise- 



86 

merits of their virtues and directions for use, and occa- 
sionally one may be seen with some large bones, or 
thick skin, such as that of the rhinoceros and elephant, 
disposing of them in small pieces to the passers by, who 
suppose them to possess eminent strengthening proper- 
ties. One of this last mentioned class of Chinese M. D.'s 
might be seen at the entrance of the American grounds, 
in the latter part of 1844, with the skeleton of an 
ourang-outang, which he was disposing of in the man- 
ner spoken of, and as an evidence of the virtues of the 
medicine, an unhappy looking chicken stood upon one 
leg, beside the skeleton, with a duck's foot and leg 
bandaged on to the other. 

In addition to the street doctors there are some who 
have acquired sufficient experience and reputation in 
, their profession to find plenty of employment among 
the wealthy, and are consequently not obliged to resort 
to the thoroughfares for support. As dissection is never 
practised, they have very imperfect ideas of anatomy, 
and as an evidence of their ignorance of the circulation 
of the blood, they distinguish twenty-four different and 
distinct pulsations in the body, and twenty-four differ- 
ent diseases at each of three pulses on each arm. They 
also seem to be ignorant of the existence of muscles 
and nerves, and, as an instance of their ignorance of 
the latter. Dr. Parker, the American medical missionary 
at Canton, informed us, that a Mandarin, whom he had 
treated for tic doloreux, was previously under the hands 
of a native physician, who told him that the acute pain 
arising from this nervous affection was caused by the 
movement of a worm, existing in the flesh, which he 
endeavored to kill, but the worm changed his position 
so rapidly, that he eluded all his endeavors. Another 
physician, who practised in Old China street, the doctor 
said he had seen cutting off the edge of the gum around 
an aching tooth, and exhibiting it to his satisfied patient, 



87 

who was eased for the time by the counter irritation, 
informed him it was the worm which had caused all his 
pain. When a Chinese physician is unsuccessful, he 
retires with the adage, " that there is medicine for 
sickness but none for fate." As there are no medical 
schools in China, the only way for a person wishing to 
become a physician is to seek for some celebrated 
practitioner and become his pupil. 

Notwithstanding the low state of medical science in 
China, which, in its connection with astrology, closely 
resembles the practice of the healing art in Europe, 
less than two centuries since, the Chinese appear to 
enjoy as good health and as many attain old age as in 
other countries. 

Comparatively little appears to be known by foreign- 
ers regarding the bulk of medicines used by the Chi- 
nese, although it is known that they have several similar 
preparations of mercury and other minerals to those in 
use with us, and that the former are administered in 
the same classes of diseases. They also have some 
similar vegetable medicines to ours, but ginseng, which 
once sold for eight times its weight in silver, stands 
with them at the head of all remedies. 

The street broker is a more stationary being than the 
others spoken of above, but his stand is seen at every 
turn. For a small per centage he is ready to exchange 
pieces of silver or to buy and sell the only national coin, 
called by the Chinese, Tchen, and by foreigners, cash, 
which is an alloy of copper and zinc principally, and of 
which 1,000 are intended to equal in value a tael, or 
Chinese ounce of silver (about $1H) but 1,200 and 
more are sometimes given in exchange for a dollar. 
On the introduction of Spanish dollars in commerce, 
they were at first found to be so convenient, that the 
coinage of dollars in imitation was for a time allowed ; 
but though these commenced at a higher rate than the 



foreign dollars, they soon sank greatly below the stand- 
ard, while the foreign coin preserved its wonted degree 
of purity. The manufacture of imitation dollars, being 
now prohibited, is still carried on to a considerable 
extent at some places on the coast. At the north 
the opium traders occasionally receive dollars with Chi- 
nese and Mantchou characters and devices upon them, 
purporting to be issued by the present Emperor. The 
Spanish dollars imported at Canton soon become 
punched into such a state, with the private marks of 
all those through whose hands they pass, as to be sale- 
able only by weight. The fraudulent even introduce 
bits of lead into the punch-holes, and none but freshly 
imported dollars can ever be received without a very 
strict examination, called shroffing, in going through 
which process the jingling of coin may be heard in the 
foreign residences throughout all hours of the day. 
Small payments, if not made in copper coin, are effect- 
ed by exchanging bits of silver, whose weight is ascer- 
tained by siich small ivory balances as that seen in the 
hands of the broker in this case, and with which all 
persons provide themselves. The payments to govern- 
ment not made in kind, are in silver, of a prescribed 
rate of fineness, which the officers charged with the 
collection of the revenue, generally deposite in some of 
the private banking establishments, called n'gan po, 
(money shops,) selected for the purpose, who, for a per 
centage, refine the silver until it contains only two per 
cent, alloy, and cast it into ingots of one and ten taels 
weight called Sysee, upon which the name of the banker 
and date of refining is stamped to prevent fraud on the 
part of the refiner. There are no chartered or privi- 
leged banking companies, but the private banks receive 
deposites from individuals either on interest not exceed- 
ing twelve per cent, or drawable at will without inter- 
est. The legal rate of interest is three per cent, per 



B9 

month and thirty per cent, per annum ; but this ot 
course is very seldom reached, except in pawning and 
Other such short loans. All compound interest is un- 
lawful, and whatever number of years may have elapsed, 
the government does not enforce any claim for interest 
accumulated above the amount of the principal, or in 
the Chinese phrase, " the offspring must not be greater 
than the mother." The ordinary rate of interest at 
Canton is from twelve to jfifteen per cent, per annum. 

According to the Memoirs sur le Chinois, the motive 
of the government in legalizing such a high rate of in- 
terest, is partly to facihtate loans, and partly to discour- 
age luxury and prodigality by hastening the ruin of such 
as borrow merely to spend. 

Some of the former dynasties of China made use of 
paper money, which probably had its origin there, and 
Was first announced to Europe as existing in China, by 
Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian traveller, who vis- 
ited the Empire in the thirteenth century. According 
to the investigations of Klaproth, paper money as a sub- 
stitute for metals, without being guarantied by any sort 
of mortgage or security, was first introduced during the 
tenth century, although something of the kind existed 
long previous, in the promissory notes or bonds of the 
government given to traders to the capital, and all 
moneyed persons, in exchange for their cash, which they 
were allowed to deposit in the imperial treasury. These 
notes were eagerly sought after for purposes of trade, 
and probably gave rise to the issue of those, on a differ- 
ent system, which rapidly depreciated, and nothwith- 
standing the eflforts of the government to sustain the 
credit of this paper money, at diff'erent times, caused 
much distress to the country, and the Mongols were 
driven out of China after a reign of less than a century, 
through its abuse. The Ming Emperors, who succeed- 
ed, were not only unable to abolish the paper in circula- 



90 

tion, but compelled to issue new notes. Every attempt 
was made by compulsive measures, to restore the paper 
currency to a better condition, and some of the taxes 
v\fere allowed to be paid with it ; but every exertion 
was fruitless, and the notes went out of circulation ; at 
least, history makes no mention of them later than the 
year 1455. The Mantchous, who succeeded the Ming 
Emperors, and are now masters of China, have never 
attempted to introduce a paper currency, for they are 
happily ignorant of the European policy, which declares 
that the more a nation is in debt, the more it is rich and 
flourishing. 



CASE X. 

Military Mandarin of the sixth grade. 

Archer, 

Soldier with matchlock, 
do. with spear. 

Militia-man or policeman, with whip and lantern. 

Military weapons on the wall, ^c. 

Large black velvet " Law-San " or " State Umbrella,^^ 
embroidered with gold ; used to hold over the head of 
the Emperor to protect him from the sun, and carried 
as a banner in processions of State. 

Richly embroidered satin " Law-San.''^ 

do. do. ''^ T^soy-Kay^^ or '■'■ Banner,'^'' carried 

in processions upon a horizontal staff between two per- 
sons, one preceding the other. 

The Mandarin in this case is equivalent to our lieu- 
tenant. He is dressed in the summer costume, with a 
fan (the Chinaman's constant companion in warm 



91 

weather,) in one hand, and a tobacco pipe in the other. 
The chair in which he sits is the kind used by mihtary 
officers of the Celestial Empire when inspecting their 
troops, and is made to shut up for convenience in 
transporting it. The change from the winter to the 
summer dress, and vice versa, is simultaneous through- 
out a province. On the commencement of the hot or 
cold weather, the first person in each province, as the 
tsoong-to or viceroy, assumes his summer or winter 
cap, which is noticed in the official gazette, or court 
circular, and is the signal for every man under his gov- 
ernment to make the same change. If a superior offi- 
cer to the viceroy happens to pass through the province 
at the time, his change of dress sets the example. 

The archer represents one of the most esteemed 
and eflfective branches of the Chinese military. Their 
dress is the handsomest and most expensive, and their 
weapon is considered by the Chinese, and no doubt is, 
superior to their rude and ill-constructed matchlocks. 
The skilful use of the bow and arrow, like fencing 
amongst western nations, is considered an elegant ac- 
complishment for gentlemen, and the bow and arrow 
constitute the principal arms of the cavalry, who are 
said to be very expert in using them, rarely missing the 
target while their horses are in rapid motion. The 
bow is made of elastic wood and horn, strongly bound 
and cemented together, and strung with a hard twisted 
cord of silk. The strength of the bow is estimated by 
the weight required to bend it ; varying from eighty to 
one hundred pounds. The longest exceed six feet and 
six inches. The arrows, for practice, are made of 
bamboo with horn heads pierced with holes, which 
make a whistling noise in passing through the air ; the 
other extremities are feathered. The arrows used in 
war are made similarly to the others, except that the 
heads are of iron or steel, and the shafts stronger. In 



92 

using the bow and arrow, the Chinese wear a strongs 
heavy ring, of agate, or jade stone, upon the right hand 
thumb, with which they draw the string. 

The soldier with a matchlock is dressed in the uni- 
form of his corps, which is plain and serviceable like 
that of the principal part of the Chinese military. The 
matchlock in his hands is one of those used at Canton 
during the difficulties with the English a few years 
since, and is a fair specimen of this species of Chinese 
fire arms. His cartridge-box, it will be observed, is in 
an exposed position in front of his person and many 
fatal accidents happened during the war, by pieces of 
the ignited match, with which the guns are touched off, 
falling amongst and firing the cartridges ; and in one 
of the engagements at the north an English officer lost 
an arm in attempting to take a prisoner whose cartridge- 
box exploded at the moment and killed him. 

The soldier with sword and shield is defending him- 
self against his antagonist who is armed with a spear. 
His shield is made of rattan, turned spirally around a 
centre, and on it is painted the face of a hideous mon- 
ster, the object of which, is to strike terror to the hearts 
of the enemy. Such weak devices as this were used 
by the Chinese, in their last attempt to subdue the 
" rebellious English," several of which were exceedingly 
ridiculous. At some of the battles the brave Tartar 
soldiers advanced to meet the foe with their faces 
painted like clowns at a circus, and throwing somersets 
as they came on, to terrify the " barbarians." Several 
were shot upon the wing (as the English soldiers called 
it) as they performed their gyrations in the air. This 
mode of attack is only paralleled by some of the other 
stratagems which the Chinese soldiers were directed, 
by their commanding officers, to put in practice. One 
of the latter recommended his men to use their endeav- 
ors to throw the enemy upon the ground as soon as 



93 

possible, for being once down, an Englishman, from the 
tightness of his breeches, was unable to rise without 
assistance, and would consequently be entirely at their 
mercy. 

The swords used by the Chinese are generally made 
of iron, and like the matchlocks are of little use. The 
spearman's weapon, of which there are a number of 
different forms upon the wall, is a more effective in- 
strument, and in the hands of disciplined troops would 
be as serviceable as the bayonet in charging an enemy. 

The sixth figure in this case is one of the militia who 
are principally used as a local pohce, and as such, this 
one has a lantern in one hand, with the Mandarin's 
name, to whose corps he belongs, upon it, and in the 
other hand a whip which is used to disperse small riot- 
ous assemblages in the streets, and to clear the road 
before the great man, his master. His dress is that of 
the Chinese militia, his upper garment having the char- 
acter ' yung ' (brave) inscribed upon the back as well 
as front, which was considered by the English, who 
had frequent opportunities of seeing it in the former 
position, as rather contradicting this quiet and modest 
assertion. 

In addition to the spears upon the wall, there are two 
bows ; one strung, and the other unstrung ; two pair of 
double swords ; one pair with a tortoise shell, and the 
other a leather sheath ; besides several other swords 
and caps, and a jinjall, or long heavy gun on a pivot, 
which has three moveable chambers, in which the pow- 
der and ball are put, and which serve to replace each 
other as often as the gun is discharged. These have 
been used for a long time by the Chinese, and in prin- 
ciple are the same as some of our late invented fire- 
arms but coarsely made. Being constructed of thick 
wrought iron, and very strong, there is little danger of 
their bursting, and when well served, in close engage- 



94 

ments, are effective weapons of offence or defence. 
Most of the large boats and junks are armed with jin- 
jalls, in which the Chinese have confidence, and which 
are undoubtedly superior to Chinese cannon, which are 
cast hollow, not bored out as ours are, or even reamed, 
and no attention being paid to the quality of the metal, 
they often burst and destroy those whom they were in- 
tended to defend. 

In the front part of the case is a small gun which 
stands upright, with its wooden cover on one side. 
Sets of three of these guns are placed at each of the 
gates of Chinese cities and are fired as salutes whenever 
a Mandarin passes in or out. They sometimes serve 
rogues, who are pillaging in a body outside the walls, a 
good turn, by giving them timely notice of the approach 
of officers. 

According to the latest authorities the Chinese army 
is divided into four divisions, according to the number 
of nations which compose the Empire. 

The first division consists of 67,800 Mantchoos di- 
vided into 678 companies. 

The second division is composed of Mongols who 
entered China with the Mantchoos at the time of the 
conquest, and comprises a body of 21,000 men formed 
into 21 1 companies. 

The third division is composed of Chinese who joined 
the Mantchoos towards the end of the reign of the last 
Chinese dynasty. This division includes the field artil- 
lery of four hundred cannon, and consists of 27,000 
men divided into 270 companies. These three divis- 
ions forming a total of about 116,000 men, constitute 
the Tartar regular army, the greater part of which is 
cavalry, and which is ranged under eight standards, 
distinguished by the colors, yellow, white, red, and blue, 
and each of these bordered by one of the others. 

The green flag distinguishes the Chinese troops, who 



95 

constitute the fourth division, which contains in the 
aggregate about 625,000 men. These are the mihtia 
spread throughout the provinces, most of whom do Httle 
or no mihtary duty, but having proved themselves 
strong, able bodied men, by lifting the weights pre- 
scribed by law, are recruited and become liable to be 
called upon to serve at any time, but the mass of them 
receive their pay of a few dollars a year and continue 
at their occupations. 

In addition to these four divisions amounting to nearly 
740,000 men, there is an irregular light Mongol cavalry 
which is said by Timkouski to resemble the Russian 
Cossacks of the Don, Oural, &c., who pay no taxes but 
do military service on the frontiers instead. This body 
of Mongols is estimated by some persons, at 500,000 
men, but it is impossible to ascertain this with any de- 
gree of exactness. 

The Chinese mihtary officers, hke the civil, are di-- 
vided into nine ranks distinguished by the same balls 
upon their caps, but the first rank of mihtary officers 
only claim right of precedence with the fourth rank of 
civilians. As Davis correctly remarks ; "It may be 
considered as one proof of social advancement on the 
part of the Chinese, that the civil authority is generally 
superior to the military, and that letters always rank 
above arms, in spite even of the manner in which the 
Tartars obtained the Empire. In this respect China 
may be said to have subdued her conquerors." " A 
military Mandarin of the highest grade may be often 
seen on foot, when a civil officer of middling rank 
would be considered as degraded unless in a sedan 
with four bearers; the others are not allowed chairs 
but may ride." 

" The highest mihtary rank is that of a tseang-Keun, 
or Tartar general, one of whom has charge of the regu- 
lar troops in Canton province ; this post can never be 



96 

filled by a Chinese, but secondary commands tnay* 
Below these are subordinate officers, promoted in regu^ 
lar order from the lowest grade, according to their 
physical strength, and their skill in shooting with the 
bow, combined with the activity and zeal which they 
may occasionally display in cases of civil commotion or 
revolt. One very singular feature we must not forget 
to notice, in regard to the military officers of China* 
They are all subject to corporal punishment, and very 
often experience it, together with the punishment of 
the cangue. This parental allotment of a certain quan- 
tum of flagellation and personal exposure, is occasion- 
ally the fate of the highest officers, and, upon the whole, 
must be regarded as a very odd way of improving their 
military character. It must be observed, however, that 
enterprising courage is not considered as a merit in 
Chinese tactics. They have a maxim, that ' rash and 
arrogant soldiers must be defeated.' The qualities of 
a good general are enumerated as follows by the Chi- 
nese. ' The covetous he appoints to guard his treasure ; 
the uncorrupt to dispense his rewards ; the benevolent 
to accept sobmission ; the discriminating and astute to 
be envoys ; the scheming to divine the enemy's plans ; 
the timid to guard the gate ; the brave to force the 
enemy ; the strong to seize an important pass ; the 
alert to gain intelUgence ; the deaf to keep a lookout ; 
and the blind to listen. As a good carpenter throws 
away no blocks, so a good general has no men unem- 
ployed. Each is selected according to his capacity ; 
but favor, (it is added,) and interest, and secret influ- 
ence subvert the order of things, sending the hlind to 
look out, and the deaf to listen.'" 

Notwithstanding the reputation the Chinese have ac- 
quired of being great cowards, a reputation which the 
mass perhaps deserve, according to the general accep- 
tation of the term, the English officers bear witness that 



97 

there are some brave men amongst them. At the tak- 
ing of the city of Amoy by the British, in August, 
1841, a Chinese officer was observed to cut his throat 
in a battery as the foreigners entered it, and another 
walked into the sea and drowned himself in the coolest 
manner possible. Other instances were noticed at 
Chinhae, upon the defence of which the rich city of 
Ningpo depended for preservation, which, with the lat- 
ter, fell into the hands of the British in October of the 
same year. The Chinese troops at this place, although 
broken and dispersed, refused to lay down their arms, 
preferring death to surrender, and many officers com- 
mitted suicide ; thus showing that discipline was all that 
was wanting to make good soldiers of them. The 
cowardice of the mass is probably owing to the long 
peace the Empire has enjoyed, to their naturally amia- 
ble dispositions, and the state of subjection they are 
kept in during their lives destroying all confidence in 
heir own powers. But that they are naturally cowards 
we do not believe, having seen the class of persons who 
who would probably be the first to run before a body of 
soldiers, submit to the most painful operations of the 
surgeon's knife without flinching in the least, or even 
uttering a groan. 

The Chinese beheve the gall-bladder to be the seat 
of courage, and the heart the tenement of the mind ; 
that the latter turns pale like the face, when a person 
is under the influence of fear, and that rice steeped in 
the gall-bladder of a human being and eaten will make 
brave men of cowards, 

13 



CASE XI. 

Man ploughing, with a buffalo attached to the plough. 

Man with a rush cape on and a hoe in his hand. 

Man beating out paddy (unhulled rice.) 

Man hulling paddy. 

Coolie carrying two boxes of tea. 

At the back of the case are some of the implements and 
machines used in husbandry, and specimens of the 
common cotton and grass cloths manufactured by the 
Chinese. 

The Chinese husbandman and his implements, as 
seen here, are probably the same as they were ages 
ago. The plough is said to be the counterpart of that 
used by the ancient Hebrews, and strongly resembles 
those found among the Arabs or Syrians. As in other 
countries, tMs implement is synonymous with hus- 
bandry, a farmer being called Kung-teen-jin, "a man 
who ploughs the fields." The buffalo is used almost 
entirely in the southern provinces for ploughing the rice 
fields to which he is peculiarly adapted, being a hardy 
animal, living on coarse food, and his nature leading 
him to prefer wet, muddy shallows, where he may often 
be seen wallowing like the hog with nothing but his 
head above water. From this propensity he receives 
his Chinese name of " Shuey-new,^^ " water-ox." 

The rush cape worn by the second figure is also used 
by fishermen and others in rainy weather, and the "CA«," 
or hoe in his hand is the most common utensil in Chi- 
nese husbandry. A considerable part of the turning 
over the soil is done with it instead of the plough, and 



99 

by practice the Chinaman has learned to apply it to 
almost as many uses as there are separate instruments 
in other countries. 

Next to thrashing with the flail, the mode of beating 
the paddy from the straw, as exhibited here is the most 
common. The tub and other apparatus is carried to 
the field, and the grain as fast as cut is brought to it 
and the paddy beat out immediately. By this method 
the straw is injured very little, and serves for making 
brooms, rain cloaks, mats, &c. Animals are also some- 
times used in treading out grain. All the principal 
farms have thrashing grounds, made of hard earth or 
chunam, and almost every village has a public one for 
the accommodation of small farmers. 

The paddy is deprived of its husk, and whitened 
either by the trip hammer and mortar, at which the 
fourth figure is at work, or the circular machine seen at 
the back of the case made of pieces of bamboo set on 
end in a frame, and fastened with chunam, a cement 
made of lime and oil. 

Our coohe represents a numerous body in China 
where nearly everything is carried by them. At the 
north, carts with low plank wheels, and wheelbarrows, 
are sometimes seen ; but at the south there are many 
who never even heard of such things, and at Hong 
Kong an anecdote is told which illustrates their igno- 
rance of such machines, as well as their attachment to 
" old custom." In making some of the roads along the 
side of the mountain where the town of Victoria is 
located, the superintendent thought the work would be 
expedited by using wheelbarrows, and accordingly pro- 
cured some which were put into the hands of the coolies 
without any instructions about the manner of using 
them, it being taken for granted they knew how ; but 
much to the amusement of the foreigners, who hap- 
pened to be looking on at the time, the Chinamen, 



100 

after filling the barrows, with which they seemed 
pleased, slung them with a rope upon the bamboos, as 
they were wont to do their baskets, and in pairs, with 
the barrows between them, trudged off to the edge of 
the bank with their loads ; and it was sometime, and 
not without much trouble, that they were induced to 
use them properly. The Chinese coolies are probably 
as muscular a body of men as can be found in the 
world, although their food is principally rice. Their 
pace is always a kind of half run, and they may be often 
seen moving along with loads of one or two hundred 
pounds apiece at the rate of four or five miles an hour. 
Farmers and coolies wages do not usually exceed three 
or four cents a day and boarded, and many do not get 
as much. 

The farming implements and machines in this case 
are the principal ones used by the Chinese. It is un- 
necessary to enumerate them as their use, with the ex- 
ception of the chain pump, is apparent at a glance. 
The fanning-mill is sometimes used to clean tea as well 
as grain, which is more commonly separated from the 
chaff by beirtg let fall, from such large bamboo trays as 
are here seen, in a current of air. The fanning-mill is 
said, by Davis, to have originated in China, where it is 
made like this model, with several spouts to separate 
the grains of different gravities as well as to clean it 
from the chaff. The chain pump is of various dimen- 
sions ; this is a small one. It is only calculated for 
raising water to small heights and is generally worked 
by hand with a crank, or by the feet with treddles, on 
the shaft, which, being turned, draws the boards up the 
trough in succession, and the water in front of them. 
The suction pump is unknown in China, and the force 
pump, which was introduced by Europeans, is but little 
used. 

The common cloths in this case are manufactured 



101 

cheaply, and retailed at a low price, and the partiality 
of the Chinese for their own productions, leads them to 
make use of these in preference to foreign goods ; 
some of which are much better and equally as cheap. 

As agriculturists, the Chinese have' generally been 
overrated by authors, as it is said by competent judges 
that they do not equal the English. They are better gar- 
deners than farmers, and in that art certainly do excel. 
Their terrace cultivation has been much exaggerated 
by those writers who affirm that nearly all the hills are 
terraced to the very summits, when in fact but very few 
are, as is testified to by Davis and other members of 
European embassies who have visited the interior, and 
nearly every person, visiting China, is disappointed at 
seeing the large number of barren hills between the 
ocean and Canton, a distance of seventy-five or eighty 
miles, where it was expected a perfect garden would be 
found. Other parts of the Empire are said to present 
a similar spectacle, and Peking, the capital, is situated 
upon a sandy, arid plain, incapable of sustaining vege- 
tation. Those hills only are terraced, where the soil 
warrants a good return for the labor expended, and 
where a plentiful supply of water can be conveniently 
obtained. Agriculture in China holds a rank second 
only to literature, and to perpetuate the remembrance 
of those times when princes themselves were cultivators 
of the soil, the Emperors of China, accompanied by the 
chief officers and princes of the blood, repair at the 
proper time, in the spring of each year, to the temple 
of the inventor of agriculture at Peking, the grounds 
about which are enclosed by a high wall, to till the 
ground and offer sacrifice to Heaven. The part of the 
fi,eld tilled by the Emperor is covered with a kind of 
tent made of mats, and after he has ploughed for about 
half an hour he ascends a neighboring eminence whence 
he examines the work of the princes, ministers and 



102 

Mandarins, who, guided by the most experienced culti- 
vators, plough in the open air. All are dressed hke 
farmers, and while they are at work the musicians of 
the court sing hymns composed in ancient times in 
honor of agriculture. The ploughs are drawn by oxen 
which are never used on any other occasion. There 
are also granaries destined for the produce, part of 
which is used for seed upon future occasions and part 
to make cakes for the sacrifice to Heaven. 

Rice, the principal production of China, may be 
called the staff of life in that populous country, and 
Gutzlaff remarks, that a native of the southern prov- 
inces will not admit he has made a meal, unless he has 
eaten a sufficient quantity of rice, and some Chinese 
once inquiring of him whether the Western barbarians 
ate rice, and finding him slow to answer them, exclaim- 
ed : " Oh ! the sterile regions of the barbarians, which 
produce not the necessaries of life. Strange that the 
inhabitants have not long ago died of hunger !" Some 
idea may be formed of the enormous consumption of 
this article, when it is stated that a ship load of 12,000 
piculs of 133K pounds each, or more than a million and 
a half of pounds of rice, does not equal the amount 
consumed in the city of Canton in a single day. At 
the south, two crops of rice and one of vegetables are 
raised upon the same spot of ground in a year, and as 
might be expected in a country where the ground is 
urged to the utmost, all kinds of manure are in demand. 
Decayed animal and vegetable matter, sweepings of 
streets, the mud from ditches, burnt bones and Hme, 
and even barbers' shavings, which are not inconsidera- 
ble, as millions of heads are shaved every ten days, are 
industriously gathered and sold : but the collections 
from sinks and other animal manure is esteemed the 
highest, and mixed with loamy earth, and dried in small 
masses in the sun, it forms a considerable article of 



103 

commerce. In towns and on rivers the whole atmos^ 
phere seems at times to be impregnated with the odor 
left by passing scavengers, who pay little attention to 
the olfactory nerves of less interested persons. Every 
farm is furnished with a cistern in which the manure is 
dissolved and kept until required for use. .It is not 
mixed with the soil, but universally applied to the plant 
itself in a liquid state, and most seeds are steeped in it 
previous to being sown. 

What few diminutive horses and cows the Chinese 
have, are pastured on waste land incapable of cultiva- 
tion. They have no good land to spare for animals, 
all is needed for the support of man. In consequence 
of this very few can afford to eat animal food, and 
Davis says that there is no people in the world who eat 
so little meat or so much fish and vegetables as the 
Chinese. The tax on land is part in kind and part in 
money, but the sum is small, and reduced considerably 
or remitted altogether in case of destructive drought or 
inundation. The farms are generally small and with- 
out fences, being usually divided by ditches, but the low 
wet lands where rice is cultivated, are divided by nar- 
row embankments which are used as walks and means 
of communication between villages. No wide roads 
are seen at the south, or indeed needed, as wheel car- 
riages are not used. 

In addition to the chain pump for irrigating their 
fields, the Chinese have several other simple machines 
for the same purpose. The principal of these is a 
wheel, sometimes forty feet in diameter, which, with 
the exception of the shaft and supports, is made entirely 
of bamboo. The paddles are of basket work, and some 
bamboo tubes open at one end, and fastened on to the 
circumference of the wheel, tangent to, or diagonally 
across it, take up the water from the stream, (in which 
the wheel is placed, and turned by the current striking 



104 

the paddles,) and carrying it to the top of the wheel j 
discharge it into a gutter which conveys it to the place 
required. It is calculated that some of these wheels 
raise upwards of three hundred tons of water to the 
height of forty feet in twenty-four hours. 

The mills used by the Chinese for making flour are 
made of two stones, (usually a hard granite) with the 
faces grooved hke our mill stones, and the top one 
turning round an iron pin fastened into the lower one. 
The hopper is fastened to the upper stone over a small 
hole a little one side of the centre. Most of these mills 
are small and turned by a single person ; but the pubUc 
ones are usually turned by buffaloes, a few only by water 
power. In the two first mentioned, the upper stones 
are turned by levers fastened to them, and in tlie buf- 
falo mills the animals (one to each run of stones) walk 
around in circles twelve feet in diameter, seven or eight 
times a minute. Four buffaloes working by turns at 
one run of stones will grind from three to four hundred 
pounds of grain per day. In the water power mills the 
upper stones have sticks fastened into the circumfer- 
ence which act as cogs, and which are turned by simi- 
lar sticks fastened into the shaft of the water-wheel. 
The water-wheels generally used are overshot, and a 
run of stones turned by one of them usually grinds six 
or seven hundred pounds of grain in twenty-four hours. 
These, like the few other machines used by the Chinese, 
are of the simplest kind, but their tools and agricultural 
implements appear to be particularly designed to direct 
labor not to supersede it. If improvements, manifest 
and simple, are proposed to a Chinese, the proposer is 
immediately referred to ancient custom, and the usage 
of his fathers, or perhaps to the fear of being squeezed 
by the Mandarins, and this is an end to all controversy. 
Educated to reverence antiquity, and to think the 
usages and productions of the Celestial Empire per fee- 



106 

lion, the force of custom on the minds of the Chinese 
is a great bar to their improvement. Experience has 
shown, that a supply of food can be procured, and a 
numerous population supported by an adherence to the 
ancient mode, and a Chinaman is the last person to 
waste either land or labor in venturesome experiments. 



CASE XII. 

Carpenter, sawing. 

do. planing, with bench and tools complete. 

Travelling blacksmith, with his forge, bellows and other 
apparatus, mending a cast iron vessel. 

Itinerant shoemaker, with his kit, at work. 

Over head is a large rush umbrella, such as is seen cov- 
ering small movable establishments of various kinds in 
the streets and market-places of Canton. 

In China, the sawyer's, the carpenter's, the joiner's, 
and the sashmaker's trade are all exercised by the same 
person. There are no saw-mills, planing machines, or 
sash factories, and in sauntering about the streets of the 
cities, at the door of a shop, or new building, may be 
seen one or two men sawing boards from the logs, and 
inside other workmen manufacturing them into the 
different forms for constructing or finishing a house. 
Their carpenter's tools are few, peculiar, and rudely 
made ; but the work done with them, although not 
equal to that of our mechanics, made with more perfect 
instruments, is probably much superior to what they 
could produce with similar ones. The peculiarity of 
their tools will be immediately noticed by a mechanic ; 



106 

the handsaw resembles our bucksaw, except that the 
blade stands at an angle to the frame, the plane, from 
its diminutive size, looks like a plaything, and is 
used, as seen in the hands of one of the figures, the 
chisels and gouges are few and have very short blades, 
the rough wooden drill-stock, with a bamboo bov;^ 
and dart-shaped drills, answers instead of gimblets, 
a bolt and ring serves to draw nails, as the clumsy 
looking hatchet does to drive them ; the adze, with 
its wooden head, is a curiosity from the economy of 
iron evinced in its construction, and, like many other 
things, the exact opposite to ours, the line for marking 
boards, &c., is black instead of white. This marking 
apparatus is a convenient affair ; the fine is wound on 
a spool, fastened in a small box, and turned with a wire 
crank ; when drawn out it passes through some cotton 
containing moistened India ink, which is also used with 
a slip of bamboo for marking as a pencil, a small weight 
fastened to the end of the line keeps it from being 
drawn into the box and serves as a plummet. 

A Chinese mechanic knows nothing about augers, 
braces and bits, gimblets, drawing knives, spoke shaves, 
and the host of other tools used with us to save labor 
and economise time. These are not desideratums to 
the myriads of China who overcome physical obstacles, 
like insects, by dint of numbers, but economy of mate- 
rials is the great object. Their pay will not admit of 
their spending hundreds of dollars for tools, their chest 
and all the contents, they can easily carry in one hand 
to the place where required for use, and if they need a 
hole larger than can be made with a drill, they have 
the time to make it with a chisel or gouge. 

The traveling blacksmith is engaged in the celebrated 
operation of ' welding cast iroti,^ as it has been incor- 
rectly called, but which as the observer will notice is 
nothing more than filling up a crack (made wider for 



107 

the purpose) in a broken cast iron vessel with drops of 
the same metal in a melted state which are pressed 
down on each side with the rolls of cotton cloth which 
he has in his hands. After filling the fracture in this 
manner it is rubbed over with clay to stop up any re- 
maining small holes. 

The blacksmith's tools are more portable than a person 
would expect they could be made ; his bellows has no 
unnecessary machinery or finish about it. It is usually 
made of the section of a tree bored out and a piston fit- 
ted to it, which, being moved to and fro, by the handle 
at one extremity, the air is alternately forced out and 
drawn in at each end ; thus making the blast nearly, but 
not quite, continuous. His furnace is small, but large 
enough for all the work required of him, and with the 
baskets containing his hammers, scraper, files, and fuel, 
and when he moves, his forge and bellows, slung at each 
€nd of a pole on his shoulder, he trudges about from 
place to place, seeking employment. Most of the metal 
work of the Chinese which will admit of it, is finished 
by scraping instead of filing or polishing. 

The honest shoemaker, who sits beside his brother 
vulcan, has suspended operations upon the old shoe be- 
tween his knees, and is looking very wisely through his 
large spectacles at the cast iron vessel which the knight 
of the hammer and tongs is repairing. There are 
4,200 shoemakers in Canton, many of whom belong to 
the wandering class, and hardly a street can be passed 
but one of them is seen industriously plying his trade. 

The number of persons engaged in different mechan- 
ical employments in the city of Canton is estimated at 
246,000, and each of the respective trades form, to a 
certain degree, a separate community, and have each 
their own laws and rules for the regulation of their busi- 
ness. The wages of journeyman carpenters, black- 
smiths, and mechanics of that class, are from fifteen to 



108 

twenty-five cents a day and boarded. Wood carvers 
get from eighteen to forty cents and found, and ivory 
carvers from twenty to sixty cents. Mechanics eat three 
meals a day, viz: at 7, A. M., 1, P. M. and 6, P. M, 
The food consists principally of rice, with a little fish or 
pork to season it, and a few greens. Each person will 
eat on an average a catty (equal to a pound and a third) 
of rice at a meal, and the daily expense for each indi- 
vidual's food does not exceed ten cents. All mechanics 
work from seven in the morning until sundown. 

Such large umbrellas as the one overhead in this case, 
are generally seen protecting a number of half naked 
beings, from the rays of the sun, who are gambling for 
the value of a cash (the tenth part of a cent) in pea nuts, 
or something of equal worth, and crowding around the 
board underneath, the lookers on evince as much anxi- 
ety as if they had an interest in the valuable stake. 
Some of these establishments remain stationary for a 
considerable length of time, unless disturbed by the 
Mandarins, and are enclosed at night with a screen- 
work of bamboo, which rolls up into a compact form in 
the day time. 

The lower orders of Chinese are much addicted to 
gambling, which is a vice chiefly confined to them, and 
notwithstanding the law to the contrary, in the more re- 
tired streets of the cities are gambling houses where 
these wretches congregate. The most common game 
is that of quadrating cash, which consists in throwing 
down a handful, or an unknown number of cash, small 
stones, or bits of crockery, and counting them out by 
fours. This game is called ' cha tan,'^ and the issue de- 
pends on the remainder bet upon. Ten, twenty, and 
more men are often seen around a table, different mem- 
bers of the group exhibiting all the passions of the gam- 
bler — fear, hope, success or disappointment, as they 
win or lose alternately. 



10^ 



CASE XIII. 

Tanka boat woman sculling^ with an infant on her hack^ 

do. do. girl rowing. 
Small boy with float tied to his back, playing. 
Tanka boat complete. 
Elegant model of a nine storied pagoda. 

The first object which meets the eye in visiting 
China is the barren looking coast ; the next the fishing 
smacks ; and the next the tanka (egg house) boats who 
swarm round vessels coming to anchor, the inmates all 
screeching at once in a jargon difficult to be under- 
stood by a new comer, but which is soon learned. 
Every one is dignified with the title of ' Massa Cap'n,' 
and " My poaty la, My poaty la Massa Cap''n! My sobby 
you facy tlue old tim Massa Cap^nP^ is generally the 
burthen of their song. In Macao roads, where ves- 
sels usually stop before proceeding up to the Canton 
anchorage, the tanka boats are generally navigated by 
young girls, in competition with whom the old women 
meet with poor encouragement. The boat seen in this 
case was purchased from the family who were using it 
at the time on the river at Canton, and is of the ordi- 
dary size seen at Macao, but not quite as large as some 
of the same class at Whampoa and Canton. At the 
latter place there are 84,000 registered boats upon the 
river, most of which are these tanka boats, in which a 
man, unless a passenger is seldom seen in the day time. 
The fathers of the families residing in them are gener- 
ally fishermen, boatmen, or coolies, whose employments 
call them away, and who are obliged to leave their 
boats and families in charge of the mothers, who in ad- 



no 

dition to taking care of them often raise some ducks or 
chickens for sale in small coops hanging over the sterns 
of the boats. These boats are generally kept much 
cleaner than Chinese dwellings on land and in common 
with their other vessels as well as houses, every one has 
a shrine and Jos, or representation of one, before which 
jos stick is kept continually burning, and morning and 
evening a general chin chining, (as they call their noisy 
worship,) consisting of the beating of gongs and burn- 
ing of paper, takes place to propitiate their idols. The 
females who live in these boats appear to be out of their 
element when on land, and by the running pace at 
which they move seem to be afraid some accident will 
befall them before reaching their boats. The mode of 
carrying infants tied on to the back is universal in 
China, and resembles the same custom amongst our 
Indians. The larger children generally carry the in- 
fants, and those not higher than a walking-stick, are 
often seen with babies strapped on to their backs. 
Most of the small children have floats made of light 
wood, or a bottle gourd tied to their backs to keep them 
from sinking if they fall into the water, which they sel- 
dom do, although they appear to move about in the 
most careless manner. It is said that in case they fall 
overboard, in addition to a ducking, they get flogged, 
which makes them more careful in future. Chinese 
boats are principally propelled by sculling oars at their 
sterns, which work on pivots with very little friction and 
noise. Some of the large passenger boats have four or 
more large sculls, (each worked by ten or a dozen men,) 
two placed at the sides of the stern, and the others at 
stagings on the sides. When moving at full speed, 
these boats go as if urged by steam power. The oars 
or sculls are all made of two pieces, fastened together 
with rattans. 

This case contains, in addition to the boat, a large 



Ill 

and beautiful model of a nine storied pagoda. These 
lofty edifices, towering to the skies, constitute one of 
the beauties of a Chinese landscape. There appears to 
be some doubt concerning their origin, but the suppo- 
sition is that they are monuments of Budhism, as many 
of them have temples dedicated to Budha in their vicin- 
ity, and some of them contain Budhistic idols. That 
they are intimately connected with the superstitions of 
the Chinese, and that they suppose them to exert a sal- 
utary influence upon the country surrounding them, 
there can be no doubt, from the tenor of the subscrip- 
tion papers occasionally circulated by the literati and 
gentry for their repair. The following is a translation 
of one issued at Canton, taken from the Chinese Re- 
pository : — " Fellow-countrymen ! The region of coun- 
try southeast of the provincial city, on account of its 
water courses, has an important influence on the for- 
tunes of the inhabitants. From an examination of old 
records it appears that the pagoda on Pachow and the 
adjacent temple, were built in the twenty-fifth year of 
Wanleih ; and that the pagoda at Cheikang, and the 
temple there consecrated to the god of letters, were 
founded in the reign of Teenke ; all these structures 
have had a most happy influence on every thing around 
them, causing the number of literati to be very numer- 
ous, and the productions of the soil most abundant. 
Recently, however, the winds and the rains, driving 
furiously, have broken down the tops of the pagodas, 
and laid the temples in ruins, and injured even their 
foundations. Their appearance now is very unsightly ; 
they ought to be repaired, in order to secure the return 
of happy and prosperous times. The pagoda on the 
north of the city, which rises five stories high, and has 
its walls painted red, a color which is from its very na- 
ture productive of fire, ought also to be repaired, and 
painted with some other color. Already we have ob- 



112 

tained the permission of their excellencies, the governor 
in council, to proceed with the contemplated repairs, 
and also recommendatory papers in which they advise 
the people to assist in accomplishing this work. It be- 
ing an affair which greatly concerns both our honor and 
prosperity, we have a right to expect, fellow-country- 
men, that you will heartily cooperate, joyfully and 
promptly contributing, little or much, according to your 
ability, so that by our united efforts the repairs may be 
soon undertaken, and the buildings rise again to their 
former splendor ! Then, according to your deeds of 
merit, the gods will send prosperity, and your glory and 
virtue will become great beyond comprehension. A 
special solicitation." 

Chinese pagodas vary in height and the number of 
stories, but rank amongst the most durable structures of 
the country. The most celebrated is the famous por- 
celain tower at Nanking. This building is nine stories, 
and rises two hundred feet from the ground. The body 
is of blue brick, covered with porcelain tiles. 



CASE XIV. 



150 and 151. A pair of the largest size porcelain vases, 
painted to represent some of the battles fought 
in ancient times between the Tartars and Chi- 
nese. These paintings are preferred in China 
to the more modern styles, and are not fanciful 
caricatures, as supposed by many. The repre- 
sentation of similar scenes is one of the princi- 
pal attractions of the Chinese stage at the pres- 
ent day, and the actors dress in the ancient cos- 
tumes as seen on these and other articles of 
Chinese porcelain. 



113 

152 and 153. A pair of vases similar to the above, of the 

next size smaller. 
154 and 155. A pair of porcelain vases of the third size, 

elegantly painted with single figures. 
156, Finely gilt blue porcelain jar for powdered sugar, 

called ^^ ping-fa,^^ " chrystal flowers." 
157 and 158, A pair of common flower stands. 
159 and 160, A pair of hexagonal hght green porcelain 

garden seats, with delicate white raised sprigs 

and flowers. 
161 and 162, A pair of blue porcelain garden seats with 

white raised figures. 
163. Beautifully painted porcelain garden seat, hex- 
agonal form. 
164 and 165. A pair of blue porcelain " tom-tos,^^ or 

spittoons, with raised white flowers. 
166 and 167. A pair of handsome enameled copper 

spittoons. 
168 and 169. A pair of fine enameled candlesticks used 

as part of the furniture of Budhistic Altars. 

170. Large and beautiful enameled copper vase, used 

to burn incense in before the idols of Budha. 

171, 172, 173 and 174. Two pair of smafl porcelain 

vases. 
175 and 176. A pair of yellow porcelain cap stands, 

with raised figures of parrots, &c. 
177 and 178. A pair of antique six-sided porcelain 

vases. 
179 and 180. A pair of fine painted square porcelain 

vases. 
181 and 182. A pair of bottle shaped porcelain vases, 

richly painted. 
183 and 184. A pair of five necked green flower vases. 

These are sometimes used by Chinese archers 

to try their skill in shooting their arrows into 

the different necks, 



114 

185. Handsome painted porcelain flower vase, with 
raised figure of a lizard encircling the neck. 

186 and 187. A pair of porcelain cap stands, made in 
imitation of pieces of bamboo tied together. 

188. Two beautiful enameled tea trays. 

189. Enameled Jos vase to hang on the wall beneath 

the painting of an idol. This is made in the 
form of half an oo-loo or bottle gourd, a Chi- 
nese emblem of longevity. 

190. A beautiful enameled blue and gilt holy water 

vase, used by the Budhists. 

191. Enameled tea-pot with stationary handle. 

192. Small enameled flower vase. 

193. Three enameled plates of different patterns, and 

one enameled tea tray. 
The manufacture of porcelain originated in China, 
and commenced with the Tang dynasty, A. D. 630. 
The first furnace on record was in Keang-se, the prov- 
ince where it is now principally made. In ancient times 
it was called " imitation gem ware." For the last thou- 
sand years the government has paid great attention to 
the manufa(?ture of porcelain, and some of the Emperors 
have given large premiums for the best specimens. In 
point of substance it has never yet been surpassed, al- 
though the advances made in the science of chemistry, 
and in the art of painting, by Europeans, has enabled 
them to excel the Chinese in the coloring and the exe- 
cution of the paintings. Notwithstanding the perfection 
to which Europeans have attained in the manufacture 
of China ware within the comparatively few years since 
its introduction, they still purchase considerable of the 
Chinese, and the value still keeps up, especially of the 
large articles, as an instance of which it may be stated 
that such jars as the large ones in this case, cost from 
two to three hundred dollars a pair, in China, according 
to the perfection of the shape and the beauty of the 



115 

painting when taken from the furnace. Some idea may- 
be formed of the extent of the manufacture when it is 
mentioned th9,t several hundred thousand workmen are 
employed, and the fires of the furnaces, when seen from 
a distance at night, are said to resemble a city enveloped 
in flames. 



CASE XV, 

The interior of this case is filled with Chinese musi- 
cal instruments. On the top are several porcelain 

vases. 

194. Kam or Kin, "the lute." This is more esteemed 

than any other musical instrument of the Chi- 
nese ; partly on account of its antiquity. A 
native writer says it is called Kam (to prohibit) 
because " it restrains and checks evil passions, 
and corrects the human heart." It is made 
from the wood of the woo-tung or Dyandria 
€ordifolia, its strings are of silk, and it is said 
to discourse most excellent music, but the diffi- 
culty of playing upon it is so great, that " every 
tune that a Chinese learns costs him the labor 
of several months." 

195. Hayoong-Kok or Wa-Kok. This instrument is 

used in Budhist temples to call the inmates to 
their evening devotions, and also in the army, 
as the drum is with us, to mark the morning 
and evening hours. 
). Chang. A smaller species of lute than the Kam. 
It has sixteen strings and is generally seen in 
the hands of blind musicians who use their long 
finger nails or some substitute as a plectrum. 



116 

197. Pi-Pa. The balloon shaped guitar. This is als<? 

made of the ivoo-tung wood. The plane upper 
surface is left without varnish, and is let into 
the rounded back. The strings are of silk, as 
were those of the ancient lute used in Europe, 
and the pi-pa is said by Mr. Lay to correspond 
exactly to the harp of Pythagoras in the outline 
It is one of the most common accompaniments 
to the voice of ballad singers. 

198. Ut-Kam. The full moon guitar. " This is made 

of the Swan-che wood, and has four strings 
which stand in pairs and are unisons with each 
^ other. The table is not coated with varnish, 
lest it should hurt the sound. Our violins never 
acquire their purest tones till they have lost the 
best part of their varnish ; would it not be as 
well to take a leaf out of the Chinaman's book, 
and bestow all the ornament upon the neck and 
back, but leave the sounding-board untouched." 

199. A call used by pedlars of cloth, &c. From morn- 

ing till night the clicking of the Luk-koo is heard 
in the streets of Chinese towns accompanied by 
cries of the different kinds of pedlars. 

200. Sam-een. Three stringed guitar. "This is made 

of the Swan-che wood, its sounds are low and 
dull, aijd it is played as an accompaniment to 
the pi-pa. The body is covered with the skin 
of the tan snake, of which the natural vestment 
is divided by cloudy lines of brown and yellow 
into compartments. The jerkin of this snake, 
we see, helps to make melody after its decease, 
and its liver is much prized by tlie dealers in 
medicines." 

201. Ee-een. The two-stringed fiddle. The rebeck 

of the Chinese. Some Ee-eens are made 
merely of a stick of bamboo passing through a 



117 

hollow cylinder of the same material, but this 
one is of rather better construction. " One end 
of the cyhnder is covered with snake skin and 
the other is left open. The bow is in all its 
original simplicity being a piece of rattan or 
bamboo, with its ends drawn towards each 
other by a small bundle of horse-hair, which 
passes between the strings, and it requires no 
little practice to keep them clear of one while 
being drawn over the other, as they are near 
together. As it is a cheap instrument, it is in 
the hands of a great many learners, who fill up 
the vacuity of their leisure moments by grating 
the strings of this scrannel coagmentation of 
silk and wood. In better hands, however, its 
notes, though shrill and piercing, are by no 
means contemptible. It will be seen that this 
instrument embodies the principle of the violin, 
which is comparatively a modern instrument, 
its great powers and capabilities being first 
pointed out by Tartini. The Chinese were in 
possession of the idea ages ago, but while the 
Italians labored to give the original draft every 
perfection it was susceptible of, the eastern 
Asiatics left theirs to enjoy its primitive sim- 
plicity." 

202. Tai-Kam. The bass fiddle. This is very much 

like the ee-een, except that the drum is made of 
cocoa nut shell instead of bamboo, and its 
notes are gruffer. These two instruments are 
almost the only ones among the Chinese that 
are played with a bow. 

203. Taoong-Kam. The wire strung harmonicon. The 

strings are beaten with small slips of bamboo, 
and in skilful hands emit sweet music. 

204. Shap-yam. An instrument made of ten small 



118 

gongs arranged in a frame shaped like a cross. 
This is carried in marriage processions and used 
as an accompaniment to other instruments. 

205. Chat-kok. The clarion. This instrument is made 

of thin copper, and the upper part of the stem 
slides into the lower to enable the performer to 
modify the sounds, which are very grave. 

206. Wang-teh. The Chinese flute. " This is made 

of bamboo, bound with silk between the aper- 
tures to preserve the wood from cracking, and 
helps doubtless to sweeten the sound. It is 
with this, as with the guitar and lute, that the 
Chinese dame cheers and beguiles the lonely 
and unexciting hours of her seclusion." 

207. Ho-toong. Trombone trumpet. The sounding 

tube of this instrument is capable of being 
lengthened and shortened at the will of the per- 
former. Its sounds, like those of our trombone, 
are not very agreeable alone, but form a proper 
relief to the shriller instruments when blown in 
concert. 
208» Sang. 'This is a collection of tubes varying in 
length, so as to utter sounds at harmonic inter- 
vals from each other, thus embodying the prin- 
ciple of the organ stops, and with the wind 
chest, into which the tubes are inserted, forms 
the embryo of that magnificent instrument. 
Very few of the Chinese of the present day un- 
derstand the use of this instrument, which was 
used in ancient times in the performance of re- 
ligious rites. 

209. Hayoong-lo, Small gong used with other instru- 

ments by bands of music during marriage en- 
tertainments. 

210. Nam-ting. Small gong suspended in a metalic 

frame, used by Budist priests. 



119 

211 and 212. Tan-Ta, and Tong Koo. Gongs used in 

concert with other instruments. 
The gong is a favorite instrument with the Chinese. 
The large ones are heard in their morning and evening 
devotions, they precede processions of all kinds, and 
drown all other noises in bands of music. 
213 and 214. Cymbals. These add to the din kept up 

with gongs in bands of music upon the stage. 

215. Seaou-Soo-lo. A small gong used in concert with 

other instruments. 

216. Tong-Koo. The concert drum. 

217. Luk-Koo. A call similar to 199. 

218. Wai-Koo, "flat drum." " This is much used by 

blind singers, who saunter through the streets 
in the night These singers are also the tellers 
of old stories. Many of them are poor female 
children, early trained to this business, by which 
they procure support for their parents, some- 
times, as well as for themselves." 

219. Mar-lo. Beggar's gong. 

220 and 221. Heang-teh. "This possesses all the es- 
sential parts of the clarionet except the finish and 
the sweetness of its sound. It is a great favor- 
ite among the Chinese, who are so charmed with 
its loud and deafening sounds, that they make 
it the principal on all occasions, either of joy 
or sorrow. It is heard at funeral processions, 
it takes a part at marriage entertainments, and 
leads in the musical companies both at the the- 
atre and in the temple." 

222. Nam-Sing. Bell used by Budhist priests in their 
worship. Among the instruments of percussion 
used by the Chinese, the great bell claims the 
first place, as all other instruments were tuned by 
this. It was also in ancient times as the stand- 
ard of weight and measure. The Chinese bell 



120 

has no clapper, but is struck with a wooden 
hammer. It is seen in all the principal temples, 
hung in a large wooden stand, and is struck 
upon at vespers, and at other times, when 
prayers are offered up. The bell is an eastern 
invention, and was used many centuries before 
it was known in the west. 

223. Puk-eu, "divining fish." This instrument is used 

in the recitation of prayers, both private and 
public, by the Budhistic priests, for the purpose 
of marking time. 

224. Pin-koo. The low drum. This and the pong-koo 

are used together in a chorus, the singers beat- 
ing them with small bamboo sticks. They give 
out a peculiar clicking sound, not generally 
agreeable to to the ears of others than Chinese, 
till use and association, ingredients in taste, have 
made it so. 

225. Tong-heng. This metalic instrument is also used 

by the Budhist priests, to mark time while chant- 
ing their prayers. 
"As lover^ of pleasure, the Chinese have always had 
great respect for music, one of its principal promoters ; 
and for tones and rythm, the two essential elements of 
music and of song, they manifest great fondness. ' In- 
deed it appears that the ancient sages of China were 
not only extremely fond of what they esteemed good 
music, but that they beheved it to have a powerful in- 
fluence over the morals of the people. It is said that 
Confucius was so powerfully struck with the music of 
the great Shun, that for three months after he heard it, 
he knew not the taste of his food.' Their writings on 
the subject of music, though hard to be understood, are 
very numerous ; and they contain records of the art, in 
the earliest periods of their history, accompanied with 
drawings and descriptions of their instruments. Many 



121 

of the most ancient are now disused, and * according 
to their own account their music at present is far infe- 
rior to what it was in the golden ages of antiquity.' 

" The rules for writing instrumental music among 
the Chinese change somewhat according to the instru- 
ment employed ; thus the lute requires a very different 
system of notation from the guitar ; and both from the 
rebeck. In the notation adopted for the lute, ' each 
note is a cluster of characters ; one denotes the string, 
another the stud, a third informs you in what manner 
the fingers of the right hand are to be used, a fourth 
does the same in reference to the left, a fifth tells the 
performer in what way he must slide the hand before or 
after the appropriate sound has been given, and a sixth 
says, perhaps, that two notes are to be struck at the 
same time.' On account of this clumsy mode of nota- 
tion, but few Chinese learn to play the lute scientifi- 
cally." 

226. Beautiful porcelain vase, with the surface purposely 

cracked in burning. The Chinese affirm that 
the art of making this kind of ware has been 
lost for several hundred years. 

227. Light green porcelain vase, with raised white 

figure. 

228. Very ancient surface cracked porcelain vase, dis- 

colored by time. 



CASE XVI. 



229. Large gilt figured envelopes for marriage letters. 

230. " " letter paper " « 
Exchanged by the parents of the bride and 
groom and sent accompanied by the marriage 
presents. 



16 



122 

231. Smaller gilt figured marriage envelopes. 
232.' " " letter paper for same use as 

230. 

233. White letter paper, with blue title-page, for com- 

munications and petitions to government offi- 
cers. 

234. Red letter paper, with dark blue title-page, for 

communications between Mandarins. 
235 and 236. Figured red letter paper. 

237. Plain red letter paper. 

238. Figured white letter paper. 

239 and 240. Figured and plain mourning letter pa- 
per. 
241 and 242. " » envelopes for letters. 

243. Mourning envelopes. 

244, 245, and 246. Name strips for envelopes. 
247. Figured fancy colored note paper. 

248 and 249. Plain red and mourning cards, 

250. Small red cards. 

251. " " envelopes and name strips. 

252. Letter from an officer in the province of Honan, 

to Dr. Parker, the American medical mission- 
ary at Canton, stating his case and soliciting 
his advice. 

253. 254, and 255. Envelope of letter from Wong (2d 

Imperial Commissioner,) to Dr. Parker ; the 
letter, and a copy of Keying's despatch to the 
Emperor, accompanying the treaty with the 
United States. 

256. Envelope of an official document from the Impe- 

rial Commissioner, Keying, to the Hon. Caleb 
Cushing, Minister Plenipotentiary from the 
United States to China. 

257. Envelope of an official document from the Tsoong- 

to of Canton, to Paul S. Forbes, Esq. American 
Consul at Canton. 



123 

^58. Facsimile of Keying's Tartar signature as affixed 
to the treaty between Cliina and the United 
States. The j&rst character is the signature, 
and the second or lower one is the flourish. 

259. The Imperial Commissioner Keying's card. 

260. The card of Wong-gan-toong the second Com- 

missioner. 

261. 262, and 263. The cards of Chow-chang-ling, 

Pwan-sz-shing or Pwan-tin-qua, and Tung-lin, 
the Mandarins or high officers attached to Key- 
" ing's suite, it will be noticed that Pwan-tin- 
qua's card has a drab colored strip upon it upon 
which his name is inscribed. He was still in 
mourning, at the time this card was presented, 
for his mother who died nearly a year before. 
The Chinese ritual prescribes the time of mourn- 
ing for a parent, which is nine months or thrice 
ninety days, during which time government 
officers retire from office. 
2^4. Stereotype block for two pages of a Chinese book. 
All the printing is done in China with such 
blocks as this. They have no movable types 
but the American missionaries at Macao and 
Hong-Kong are printing books in Chinese with 
movable types made in France. 

265. Seals for the use of merchants. 

266. Handsome carved block for printing labels. 

267. Block for printing invitations to a marriage enter- 

tainment. 

268. Stamps used by shopmen. 

269. Canton court circular, containing only tlie move- 

ments of the various government officers. 

270. Copy of the Peking Gazette, issued at Canton 

every other day. This one contains dates from 
Peking, eighty days previous (Canton is about 
as far from Peking as New Orleans is from New 



124 

York.) There is no freedom of the press in 
China. The newspapers contain only such in- 
formation as the government sees fit to have 
pubhshed to suit its own purposes. 
271. Different kinds of theme paper used at the literary- 
examinations of candidates for the different 
degrees necessary for them to attain before 
becoming eligible to office. 

273. Account books of various sizes. 

274. White envelopes with red name strips. 

275. Faint ruled theme paper. 

276. Ruled account paper. 

277. Specimens of handsome characters made by a cel- 

ebrated Canton scribe named Chung-uk-shung, 

278. Characters for children to copy. 

279. Chinese Almanac, for 1844. 

280 " " arranged to resemble 

a boy leading a buffalo. 

281. Divining book to consult when throwing the bam- 

boo shps used in Jos houses or temples to ascer- 
tain the lucky days for marriages, building 
houses, &c. 

282, Chinese Arithmetic. 

283 and 284. Ancient characters and their meaning 
explained. 

285, Picture book used to learn children the names of 

things. 

286. Directions for holding the pencil for different kinds 

of writing. The Chinese are great admirers 

of cahgraphy, and indeed one of the essentials 

at the literary examinations is an elegantly 

written theme. 

The manufacture of paper and the art of printing 

both originated in China, the former being first made 

by the Chinese, A. D. 95, and the art of manufacturing 

it transmited by the Arabs (who learnt it from the Chi- 



1 



125 

nese) into Spain about the beginning of the 10th cen- 
tury, and the latter invention, which was first introduced 
to the notice of the Chinese government about the 
middle of the 10th century, was first brought to notice 
in Europe in 1440, and introduced into England in 
1470. Before the invention of paper the Chinese wrote 
upon slips of flattened bamboo which they formed into 
books by fastening them together with wires. 



CASE XVII. 



This case contains a beautiful model of a two story 
summer house, as seen in the southern provinces of 
China, with small figures of a lady and gentleman. On 
the top of the case are several finely painted porcelain 
vases. 



CASE XVIII 



Contains a model of a silk store in Canton. On the 
top of this case are also several porcelain vases. 



CASE XIX. 



Contains a model of a China ware and curiosity shop 
in New China street. Canton. There are two pair of 
elegant five necked porcelain flower vases, and a pair 
of beautifully painted single necked ditto, on the top of 
this case. 



126 

Chinese stores, like the houses, are ordinarily but one 
story high, but some of the handsomest are two stories. 
Nearly all are destitute of yards, and have only a plat- 
form upon the roof where the fuel is kept for cooking, 
which is done in the attic. In the cities the ground, in 
business localities, is covered with stores, and they are 
universally lighted by sky-lights in the roof, as seen in 
the models here exhibited. 



CASE XX. 



This case is filled with fine specimens of enameled 
ware, small porcelain articles, and a variety of other 
things, among which may be noticed several vessels for 
keeping tea hot, two metallic vessels for Su-hing, or hot 
wine, used at dinners, two cups for drinking the wine, 
two China ware pillows of curious forms, two ancient 
incense vessels in form of unicorns, two medicine jars, 
an image of the idol Quanyim made of porcelain, &c. 
&c. On the top of the case are eight elegant porcelain 
jars, of various patterns. 



CASE XXI. 



Contains a model of a canal boat, such as the tea is 
brought to Canton in. A large number of these vessels 
are, always to be seen in the Canton waters. They are 
excellent cargo boats, and peculiarly adapted to the 
shallow inland waters and canals, where they are pushed 
along by the men with bamboo poles, or tracked with 
ropes. They have pecuUar masts, which can be taken 



127 

down and put up with facility, which enables them to 
take advantage of the wind in large streams. The top 
of this case is also covered with porcelain vases. 



CASE XXll. 



Contains a model of a Nanking junk. 

The hulls of all junks are shaped very much like a 
Chinese shoe, but they differ considerably in their upper 
works and embellishments. The Nankin junks are per- 
haps the handsomest. " The model from which a junk 
was first derived, is said by the Chinese to have been a 
monstrous fish ; the fancied resemblance is kept up in 
the eyes, the mouth, and teeth, painted on the bow, a 
frisking tail in the high stern, &c." Like all other 
Chinese vessels the junks are without keels, and draw 
very little water, on which account they fall to lee- 
ward in head winds, and arc obliged, in their trading 
voyages, to take advantage of the monsoons or periodi- 
cal winds which, on the coast of China, blow steadily 
for several months in one direction, and then change 
and blow in an opposite one. The art of navigation 
appears to have been on the decline in China for sev- 
eral centuries, as it is well known that the Chinese once 
navigated as far as India, while at present their most 
distant voyages extend no farther than Java, and the 
Malay islands to the south. They have no instruments 
for calculating the latitude or longitude, but are guided 
by the compass between the prominent headlands ; of 
which, together with the harbors, currents and shoals 
on the coast, they possess tolerably accurate directories. 
The sails of all Chinese vessels are made of mats, the 
ropes and cables of split rattans and coir, or the husk 
of the cocoa nut, and the anchors of a heavy hard wood, 



128 

called by the Chinese teih-mo, " iron wood." The ac- 
count which Mr. GutzlafF gives of the manning and dis- 
cipline of the trading junks, in which he made several 
voyages, explains, in part, the loss of so many at sea. 
"Besides the principal owner of the cargo, or agent for 
those who own it, there is the captain or pilot. He sits 
constantly on the weather side of the vessel, observing' 
the shores and promontories as they are approached, 
and from habit seldom lies down to sleep. Though he 
has the nominal command over the sailors, who are the 
offscourings of the Chinese population, they obey him 
or not, according to their pleasure, and sometimes scold 
or brave him like one of their own number. Next to 
the pilot is the helmsman, who manages the steering 
and sails. Besides clerks for the cargo, there is a pur- 
chaser of provisions, and another whose express business 
it is to attend to the offerings to the gods and goddesses. 
The crew consists of two classes : the able seamen, who 
are called Tow-mo, " heads and eyes," and the ordinary 
seamen called Foki's " comrades." Every one is a 
shareholder, with the privilege of putting a certain quan- 
tity of goods "on board. The principal object of all is 
trade, and the working of the junks would seem to be a 
subordinate point. The crew exercise full control over 
the vessel, and oppose every measure which they deem 
injurious to their own interest ; so that the captain and 
pilot are often obliged to submit to them. In time of 
danger the men often lose all courage ; and their in- 
decision, with the confusion which attends the absence 
of discipline, not unfrequently proves the destruction of 
the junk." 



129 



CASE XXIII. 

Contains a model of a Mandarin boat or revenue 
cutter. 

The Mandarin boats, called by the Chinese " fast 
crabs," and " scrambling dragons," are intended by the 
government for the suppression of opium smuggling on 
the rivers, but are said to be oftener used for smuggling, 
or for collecting from smugglers a certain amount for 
every chest of opium they are allowed to run in, which 
amount goes into the pockets of the Mandarins having 
them in charge. 

On top of this case are two China ware fountains, 
sometimes used as flower pots, made to represent rocky 
hill sides, with castles, temples, &c. 



CASE XXIV. 



This case contains a great variety of embroidered 
articles, such as knee pans, pockets, bags for areca nut 
and tobacco, head ornaments, waist ornaments, &c. 
&:c. ; also caps of various kinds, embroidered and plain, 
theatrical cap, canonical head dress, &c. 



CASE XXV. 



Contains many beautiful specimens of their carving 
in ivory, tortoise shell, sandal wood, stone, and bamboo. 

17 



130 

This is work in which the Chinese certainly do excel 
any other nation. The labor and finish on these arti- 
cles speak for themselves, but the attention of visitors 
is particularly called to the large carved ivory ball with 
sixteen smaller ones carved out on the inside, also to 
the large carved ivory basket, the carved sandal wood 
card-rack and stand, the beautiful silver and gold fila- 
gree basket and the card cases. There is also in this 
case a circular metallic magic mirror which possesses 
the power of reflecting an image of the raised figures 
on the back from the surface. 

The top of this case is covered with specimens of 
carved bamboo roots, &c. 



CASE XXVI. 



This is filled with a great variety of articles. Here 
is a Joo-ee or sceptre, similar to one in twenty-five, the 
ornamental parts of which are carved out of Jade and 
other precious "Stones, a beautiful lacquered paint box 
with colors, &c., a large and elegantly painted porcelain 
bowl and two plates on stands, a set of porcelain sweet- 
meat vessels in shape of a puzzle, a pearl inlaid lacquered 
sweetmeat box, a splendid pearl inlaid lady's dressing 
case from Japan, a beautiful and costly carved red 
lacquered Japanese present box presented by Pwan- 
tin-qua one of Keying's suite, and many other things. 



CASE XXVIT. 



Contains a model of a Chinese flower boat. 

The flower boats are used by the Chinese as hotels 



131 

are with us, but to a greater extent, in giving dinners. 
They are also often used by bridal parties and excur- 
sions of other kinds upon the rivers. At Canton whole 
streets of these boats are seen, which with their richly 
carved and gilded fronts present a gorgeous spectacle, 
especially at night, when they are splendidly lighted 
with a great variety of lanterns. Many of them are 
used as drinking and gaming establishments and some 
for worse purposes. On the top of the case is an ele- 
gant model of a Chinese summer house and a beautiful 
specimen of carving in fine wood. 



CASE XXVIII 



Contains a model of a Hong boat, so Called by for- 
eigners, because used by the Hong merchants in going 
from one part of Canton to another, or to and from 
their country places. They are very pleasant and con- 
venient boats for making excursions upon the river 
with small parties in summer, and have been adopted 
by several foreign residents at Canton for this purpose. 
On this and the next case are a number of cases of 
insects, &c. 



CASE XXIX. 



Contains a model of a stone bridge of five arches 
nt Fahti near Canton. 



132 



CASE XXX. 

One side of this case contains two beautiful paintings 
on glass, a carved stone tablet on a beautiful king wood 
stand, a carved king wood shrine, a metallic vessel for 
keeping eatables and drinkables warm with a lamp un- 
derneath, a white copper hookah, a white copper lamp 
with three prongs, a hand furnace used in cold wea- 
ther by gentlemen, metallic incense candlesticks in the 
form of birds, rosaries, &c. The opposite side of the 
case contains a large carved tablet with birds upon it 
made of pearl, a beautiful carved and gilt domestic 
shrine, a king wood shrine and painted porcelain image 
of the goddess Kuanyim, a painting on glass represent- 
ing a thunder storm which the Chinese suppose to be 
caused by the dragon, two beautifully flowered candles 
used at marriage entertainments, other figured candles 
used in temples, two bamboo shirts worn in warm wea- 
ther, a sword made of ancient Chinese coins, used as a 
charm against ghosts, and several other articles. 



CASE XXXI 



Contains a model of a duck boat. 

The Chinese consume a great many ducks, which 
they contrive to rear very cheaply in boats made for the 
purpose. In these the ducks are conveyed from place 
to place upon the rivers and turned out to seek their 
own food upon the muddy banks and shoals. Upon a 
signal being given by the owner the ducks may be seen 
hurrying from every direction towards the boats to which 



133 

they belong, and ascending the inclined planks laid out 
for the purpose, file off to their own coops. It is said 
that the birds are trained to flock to the boats when the 
signal is given by the last one coming in being whipped. 



CASES XXXII. AND XXXIII. 

The first of these cases contains a model of a stone 
bridge of three openings in the interior of Honam ; and 
the second a model of a granite bridge of three arches 
opposite Canton. 

Chinese bridges, where there is much passing, and 
the situation admits of it, are always made of the most 
solid and durable materials, put together in a substantial 
manner. Evidences of their engineering skill in this 
respect are to be seen in all parts of the empire, and 
several fine bridges are spoken of in Staunton's account 
of Lord Macartney's embassy to China. One of nine- 
ty-one arches, thrown across an arm of a lake between 
Soo-chow and Hang-chow, was passed, and in Keaug- 
nan solid stone bridges of different forms were observed 
to be thrown over the canal. Some of the arches were 
serai-circular, others the transverse section of an elipse, 
and others approached the shape of a horse shoe, the 
space being widest at the top. From the fact of arches 
and vaulted work being found in the Great Wall, which 
was built more than two thousand years ago, it is evident 
that the Chinese must have understood the construction 
and properties of the arch long before the Greeks and 
Romans, whose original and most ancient edifices con- 
sisted of columns connected by straight architraves, of 
bulk sufficient to support the incumbent pressure of solid 
masonry. 



134 



CASE XXXIV. 

Contains a beautiful model of a Mandarin's couch} 
with the appurtenances complete. On the top is a model 
of the Whampoa pagoda. 

The bedsteads used by the wealthy Chinese, of which 
our model is a fair specimen, are massive and tasty 
pieces of furniture, and cost large sums. In summer 
nothing but a mat is used upon them ; and in winter a 
thin quilt stuffed with raw silk. The luxury of feather 
beds, hair mattrasses, and other western inventions, ap- 
pear to be unknown to the Celestials. The bed cover- 
ing is made of silk, and always handsome ; its arrange- 
ment at the back will be noticed in the model. A 
pillow made of bamboo or rattan usually answers to rest 
the head upon. 

The model of a pagoda on this case is a representa- 
tion of the pagoda of Pepa-chow, known to foreigners 
as the " Whampoa pagoda." It is one of the land marks 
used by vessels coming up the river. It stands on a 
sHght elevation of ground, is about 170 feet high, and 
was built in 1598. It was originally called Fowtu, 
(Budha,) and also " the pagoda of the sea monsters," 
and has a small court dedicated to the god of the north, 
and a temple consecrated to the monsters of the deepo 



CASE XXXV. 



Is filled with all the different specimens of Chinese 
boots and shoes for gentlemen and ladies, and clay 
models of a pair of small feet, one with the bandage 
and shoe on and the other naked. There is also an 
assortment of Chinese writing pencils and India ink. 



135 



CASE XXXVI. 

Contains a model of the principal building attached 
to the celebrated Budhist temple at Honam, commonly 
called the Honam Jos house, with idols, &c., complete. 
On the top of the case is a model of a two storied sum- 
mer house in the south of China completely furnished. 

The ground occupied by the temple at Honam, which 
is the largest and best endowed religious establishment 
in the southern part of the Empire, was originally a pri- 
vate garden, but several hundred years ago, a priest 
named Cheyue, built up an establishment, which he 
called " the temple often thousand autumns," and dedi- 
cated it to Budha. It remained an obscure place until 
within 200 years ; when the Emperor Kanghe's son in 
law, who acquired the title of " King of the subjugated 
South," by completely bringing the province of Can- 
ton under his father's sway, took up his head quarters 
in the temple of Honam. Being a bloodthirsty man, 
and casting his eyes upon Ah-tsze, a fat, happy priest, 
whose good condition he thought could not be the 
effect of vegetable diet, and that he was consequently a 
hypocrite, he drew his sword to kill him ; but his arm 
suddenly stiffened, and he was stopped from his purpose. 
That night a divine person appeared to him in a dream, 
and assured him that Ah-tsze was a holy man, adding, 
*' you must not unjustly kill him." Next morning the 
king presented himself before Ah-tsze, confessed his 
crime, and his arm was immediately restored. He then 
did obeisance to the priest, and took him for his tutor 
and guide, and morning and evening the king waited 
on the priest as his servant. Through the intervention 
of Ah-tsze the inhabitants of the surrounding country 



136 

were rescued from extermination, and by their gratitude 
and the munificence of the king and his Tartar officers 
the temple was raised to its present magnificence. 

Its buildings, which are chiefly of brick, are numer- 
ous, and occupy with the gardens belonging to the 
temple, six or eight acres: These grounds are sur- 
rounded by a high wall. After entering the first gate 
and passing through a long court-yard, the centre of 
which is occupied by a handsome wide granite walk, 
kept very clean, and shaded by rows of large trees on 
each side, you come to the second, called the hill gate, 
over which Hae-chivang, the name of the temple, is 
written in large characters. Here, as you stand in the 
gateway, you see two colossal figures, twenty or twenty- 
five feet in height, — images of deified warriors, sta- 
tioned one on your right and the other on your left, in 
threatening attitudes, to guard day and night the en- 
trance to the inner courts. Passing further on, through 
another court, you enter " the palace of the four great 
celestial Kings," images of ancient heroes, of colossal 
dimensions, like the former. Still advancing, a broad 
granite pathw'ay, like the two former, conducts you up 
to the principal building, of which our model is a repre- 
sentation. Upon a carved and gilded tablet, in front, 
is inscribed the characters Tae Hoong Paou Teen^ 
" The Great Powerful Precious Palace." Procul, 
procul este profani. You are now in the presence of 
the triad of Budha — Sau Paou Fuh, the three precious 
Budhas. Three stately images, more than twenty feet 
in height, in a sitting posture, covered with burnished 
gold, and representing the past, the present, and to 
come. On the right sits Kwo-Keu Fuh, whose reign is 
already past. In the centre is Heen-tsae Fuh, who now 
reigns over the world. And on the left is We-lae Fuh, 
the Budha whose reign is yet to come. In front of 
these are altars, upon which the incense vessels and 



137 

offerings to the gods are placed. Eighteen other gilded 
idols of smaller size deck the sides of the hall, and bells, 
urns, &c. are scattered about. 

The building, in which these images are placed, is 
about 100 feet square, and standing in the midst of the 
vast hall, at twilight, surrounded by the colossal but 
senseless and silent idols, who receive the largest share 
of the worship due from the sons and daughters of 
Adam to their creator, a feeling of awe gradually steals 
over the mind, akin to that felt on visiting the splen- 
did edifices dedicated to religious purposes in other 
countries. But here it is soon dispelled by the monot- 
onous chanting of the priests, performing their vespers 
in the Pali language, of the meaning of which they 
themselves are generally ignorant. 

" Beyond this building are other halls, filled with 
images, and on the right side is a long line of apart- 
ments, some of which are formed into narrow cells for 
the priests, and others into stalls and pens for pigs, 
fowls, &c., which are brought to the temple by devout 
devotees, when they come to make or pay vows to the 
beings who inhabit the temple. On the left side there 
is another set of apartments, a pavilion for Kwan-foo- 
tsze, a military demigod ; a hall for the reception of 
visitors; a treasury; a retreat for Te-tsean^-wang, ihe 
King of Hades ; the chief priest's room ; a dining hall, 
and a kitchen. Beyond these, there is a spacious gar- 
den, at the extremity of which there is a mausoleum, 
wherein the ashes of the burnt priests are once a year 
<ieposited; also a furnace for burning their dead bodies, 
and a little cell in which the jars containing their ashes 
are kept, till the annual season for opening the mauso- 
leum returns. There are likewise, tombs for the bod- 
ies of those who leave money for their burial. There 
are about 173 priests in the temple, who are supported 
in part by property belonging to the establishment, and 



138 

partly by their own private resources. Only a very 
few of them are well educated." 

The summer or country houses, of which the models 
seen in this collection, are fair specimens, are gener- 
ally built of wood and set upon brick or stone pillars in 
the midst of sheets of water, which are covered with 
the nelumbium, or water lily. Some of these country 
seats, occupying a few acres only, diversified by artifi- 
cial hills, clumps of rocks and trees, small islands and 
buildings of different sizes and construction, joined to- 
gether by tasty bridges, are arranged in such a per- 
spective manner as to give them the appearance of ex- 
tensive grounds. Families do not ordinarily reside at 
these places, but short excursions are made to them in 
summer, and entertainments are given to friends in 
them, in which theatrical performances generally form 
a part, and a private theatre is therefore attached to 
the principal building for this purpose. The Chinese 
being great epicures, some of these entertainments are 
very costly, and the tables are covered with a profusion 
of dishes, filled with extravagant and far-fetched dain- 
ties. The order of the courses varies, but they usually 
begin as ours end, with fruits, cakes and sweetmeats, 
and end as our begin, with soup, or more commonly 
with plain boiled rice. The number of courses is 
sometimes very great ; ten, twenty, thirty and upwards 
are not unusual. One course is not entirely removed 
to give place to another, but the dishes are being con- 
tinually changed. The food consists principally of 
stews, in which the meat is cut up into small pieces 
previous to cooking, in order to accommodate it to the 
chopsticks, and a Chinese dinner would be nothing 
without stews made of birdsnests, sharks' fins, deers' 
sinews, bicho-de-mer, or sea slugs, and many other 
such dishes, used and appreciated only by the Chinese, 
and all of which, to the uneducated and barbarous taste 



139 

of a native of the western world, possess a similarly in- 
siped or repulsive flavor. Samshou, a liquor distilled 
from rice, is served hot, and the host and guests amuse 
themselves with the game of tsoey-moey, or some other. 
This game is played by two persons facing each other 
and simultaneously throwing out their hands and open- 
ing some of their fingers, at the same time expressing 
the number of fingers held out by both. If one guesses 
correctly, and the other does not, the looser is obliged 
to drink a cup of samshou. This is a favorite game 
with all classes, and Davis says, is precisely the same 
as the game of Morra, common among the lower orders 
of Italy at the present day, and derived by them from 
the Roman sport of " Micare digitis,^^ of which Cicero 
remarked, that " you must have great faith in the "^ 
honesty of any man with whom you played in the 
dark." After the entertainment, if theatricals are in- 
troduced, one of the actors steps forward and presents 
a list of plays to the principal guest for his selection, 
any of which the company can perform at a moment's 
notice. 

The dwelling houses of the Chinese present a blank 
wall to the street, and in this respect as well as in their 
ordinary plan, are said to bear a curious resemblance 
to the remains of the Roman habitations, disinterred 
from the scoriae and ashes of Pompeii. " They con- 
sist usually of a single story, divided into several apart- 
ments, hghted only by windows looking into the inter- 
nal court yard. The principal room next to the en- 
trance, serves to receive visitors as well as for eating ; 
and within are the more private apartments, the door- 
ways of which are screened by pendent curtains of silk 
or cotton. At the north, the apartments are furnished 
with brick work couches, with furnaces below to warm 
them during winter." 

The houses are generally raised a few steps above 



140 

the ground and are generally built of blue brick super- 
ficially pointed. " Those of consequence are entered 
by a triple gateway, consisting of one large folding 
door in the centre, and of a smaller one on either side. 
These last serve for ordinary occasions, while the first 
is thrown open for the reception of distinguished 
guests. Large lanterns of a cylindrical shape are hung 
at the sides, on which are inscribed the name and titles 
of the inhabitant of the mansion, so as to be read either 
by day, or at night when the lanterns are hghted." 
Just within the gates is the covered court, where the 
sedan chairs stand, surrounded by red varnished label 
boards, having inscribed in gilt characters, the full ti- 
tles of any person of rank and consequence. 



CASE XXXVII. 



This case is placed between II. and III, and contains 
a model of a Sing-Song, or Chinese theatre, with ac- 
tors performing. 

The Chinese, although fond of theatricals, have no 
stationary theatres except at Peking, but companies of 
actors are continually traveling through the provinces 
performing wherever the inhabitants can raise a sufii- 
cient amount by subscription to remunerate them. 
Bamboos and mats are to be had everywhere, and in a 
few hours, with these, and rattans to fasten them to- 
gether, the 'Chinese will construct a large building. 
The theatres are generally erected in some of the 
squares or open places in front of the temples and are 
free to all passers by, as they are left entirely open in 
front. Women are never seen on the Chinese stage, 
their parts being performed admirably by young boys 
educated for the purpose. Many of their plays are 
founded on the ancient history of the Empire and rep- 



141 

resent the wars between the different states or petty 
kingdoms. In these plays the dresses are very splendid. 
As they use little or no shifting scenery, a great deal is 
left to the imagination. An actor comes in with a whip 
in his hand and throws up his left leg when there is no 
doubt he is on horseback. Striding up and down the 
stage several times, he stops and informs the audience 
that he has arrived at some distant place, which they 
are in duty bound to believe. If he hesitates in his rapid 
pace during his journey and treads a few steps cautiously 
and with an oscillating motion of the body, and then 
stoops down and begins pulling at an imaginary oar, 
the spectators must suppose him exposed to the dan- 
gers of navigation. These defects with the ludicrously 
painted faces of the actors representing Tartar generals 
and the horrid din kept up with gongs and an instru- 
ment which has been aptly compared in its notes to a 
cracked penny trumpet, renders all their historical plays 
farces in the eyes of foreigners. The plays begin about 
the middle of the day and last until late at night, usually 
ending with tumbling and other feats of agility and 
strength. 



CASE XXXVIII. 



Between Cases III. and IV. contains a small model 
of a tanka boat. 



Among the great number of lanterns suspended over 
head, will be particularly noticed the large and splendid- 
ly embroidered one, hung from the centre piece of the 
fresco work. This is about ten feet high, and is alto- 



142 

gether a gorgeous affair, the frame being beautifully 
carved and gilt, the panels richly embroidered, and there 
are several hundred silk tassels pendant from different 
parts of it. Such lanterns as this are not intended to be 
lighted, and are used only in processions of Mandarins, 
and to decorate the temples when they visit them, as 
required by the ritual, to offer sacrifices and do homage 
to the ancient sages and emperors. The dragon lantern 
will also be noticed ; this, with the fish and bird lanterns 
hanging in different parts of the room, and also those 
made of gauze are carried in the yearly dragon proces- 
sions to propitiate that fabled monster. Amongst the 
others are two very large ones, made of horn, with silk 
tassels around them, two large carved king wood framed 
ones, with beautiful painted silk panels, and four beau- 
tiful ones with small paper figures, capable of motion 
when the lanterns are lighted. 

Among the pictures which cover the wall at the end, 
near the entrance, and of which there are between four 
and five hundred in oil and water colors, are two large 
and beautiful paintings of the city of Canton and Ho- 
nam, opposite Canton, portraits of Samqua, Houqua, 
and Linchung, three of the Hong merchants, dressed in 
their official robes, which they purchased the privilege 
of wearing. Houqua was generally well known for his 
riches ; he died about two years since, and left about 
fifteen millions of dollars, after paying an immense 
amount to the government during the troubles with the 
English. The portrait on the left of Linchung is one 
of a Chinaman, called Boston Jack, who is well known 
to all persons who have visited China as he furnishes 
the ships with provisions. Below Linchung and Jack 
is a set of twelve paintings in oil colors, representing 
the life of a successful Chinaman from his birth to his 
death. Beneath these are twelve paintings, showing 
the growing of rice, and on the right of these, on the 
other side of the room, are twelve more, representing 



145 

the culture, curing and packing of tea. Over the beaU-' 
tiful paintings of flowers, &c. are four frames with six 
rice paintings in each ; the two on the left showing a 
funeral procession, and the two on the right a marriage 
procession. Over the large paintings are two portraits 
of Chinese beauties. 

Besides those mentioned are an immense number of 
Chinese views, paintings of birds, punishments, vessels, 
fishes, shells, insects, &c. &c. All these paintings are 
the work of Chinese artists, and for execution and finish 
speak for themselves. 

In reading the catalogue, it may be noticed that the 
descriptions of the articles in some of the small cases 
are very full, compared with others. This is occasioned 
by the impossibility of making out a list of the articles 
in some of the cases until they were arranged, while 
others, containing fewer articles could be described in 
full. The same difficulty was met with in describing 
and numbering the paintings before arranging : and 
acting upon the suggestion of a number of friends, that 
the curiosity of the public demanded that the Museum 
should be opened as soon as possible, it has been deemed 
advisable to give a general description of the small cases 
in this edition of the catalogue, and a fuller one in the 
next. 



General Remarks upon the early intercourse with China, 
her present commerce with foreign nations^ her govern^ 
ment, ^c. 

China being situated on the eastern border of Asia^ 
appears to have been so far removed from other great 
nations of Antiquity, that little was known by them 
concerning it, and the notices to be found in their his- 



lories concerning its existence, are few and uncertain. 
During the first century of our era, under the reign of 
the celebrated Han dynasty, the Emperor Mingty, des- 
patched messengers to India, who brought back the re- 
hgion of Budha ; and Hoty, a succeeding Emperor, sent 
an envoy to seek some intercourse with the western 
world, who is said to have reached Arabia. About the 
middle of the second century, as recorded in Chinese 
history, people came from India and other western na- 
tions with tribute, and from that time, foreign trade 
was carried on at Canton. Under this head of tribute, 
was probably placed the presents carried by the em- 
bassy, despatched by the Roman Emperor, Marcus An- 
tonius, to China, in A. D. 161, to acquaint himself 
with the country which was reported to produce the 
beautiful silks supplied to his luxurious countrymen 
through the medium of India. There is sufficient evi- 
dence that some Nestorian christians entered China as 
early as the middle of the seventh century, but " it is 
to the Arabs that we owe the first distinct account of 
China, and of its peculiar institutions and customs. 
Their far extended conquests brought them to the con- 
fines of that remote empire ; and the enlightenment of 
science and literature, which they possessed in no small 
degree during the eighth and ninth centuries, led many 
individuals among them to explore unknown countries, 
and to record what they had seen." Although nearly 
1,000 years have elapsed since their first accounts 
were written, there is a remarkable identity between 
the Chinese, as they are therein described, and the 
same people as we know them at the present day. 

As the fact may not be familiar to all, that the knowl- 
edge of the existence of an immensely populous and 
wealthy empire in the remotest parts of the east had a 
great effect in the discovery of our continent by Colum- 
bus, a short description of the origin and work of Mar- 



145 

tb Polo, a Venetian, and the first European who gave 
to the world a history of his travels in those distant re- 
gions, is here given. 

His father Nicholas, and uncle Matheo Polo first vis- 
ited the court of Cublai Khan, the sovereign potentate 
of the Tartars and Emperor of China, who completed 
the conquest of the Chinese empire, began by his 
grandfather, Genghis, who overthrew all the indepen- 
dent powers of Tartary and made himself sole master 
of Central Asia. Nicholas and Matheo embarked from 
Venice on a commercial voyage to the east, about the 
year 1255, and having penetrated to the Court of 
Cublai, by whom they were received with great dis- 
tinction, from political motives, it is supposed, were 
furnished with letters to the Pope, entreating him to 
send a hundred learned men to instruct the sages of 
his empire in the knowledge of the christian faith, and 
on their departure for Europe were invited to return. 
They arrived home safely in 1269, and having deliv- 
ered their letters and received others from the Pope, 
with presents to the Grand Khan, they set out again 
for the remote regions of Tartary in 1271, accompan- 
ied by two learned friars and young Marco, who was 
born shortly after his father left the first time. The 
friars becoming alarmed for the safety of their lives in 
Armenia, where a war was raging, took refuge in a 
monastery where they remained, and the Polos, after a 
long journey and suffering many hardships, arrived in 
the dominions of Cublai, who, hearing of their ap- 
proach, sent officers to meet them at forty days dis- 
tance from the court. 

The Venetians resided about seventeen years at the 
Tartar Court, during which they were treated with 
great distinction ; and Marco, having acquired the four 
principal languages of the country, was employed by 
the Khan in missions and services of importance in va- 

19 



146 

rious parts of his dominions. At length after consid- 
erable difficulty in obtaining the consent of the Khan, 
the Polos set out on their return to Venice by sea, 
being loaded with presents of rich jewels given them by 
their patron, who made them promise to return to him 
after they had visited their families. They arrived in 
Venice in 1295, literally laden with riches, and having 
heard, on their journey, of the death of their old bene- 
factor, they considered themselves absolved from their 
promise to return. Several months after their arrival, 
in an action between the Genoese and Venetian navies, 
Marco Polo, who had taken the command of one of the 
galleys of the latter, advancing first in the line, was 
taken prisoner and carried to Genoa in irons. Here he 
was detained in prison, and all offers of ransom reject- 
ed. Having had his papers and journals sent to him 
from Venice, he produced his work on China. 

This work is said to have been one of the principal 
lights used by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century, 
when the attention of the world was turned towards the 
remote parts gf Asia, and they were attempting to cir- 
cumnavigate Africa ; and from Marco Polo's descrip- 
tions of the situation of China and the islands on the 
coast, and the state of geographical knowledge of the 
day, Columbus was led to believe that by sailing in a 
westerly direction he should reach the eastern shores of 
Asia. With this idea, and the supposition that the cir- 
cumference of the earth was much less than it was af- 
terwards found to be, he set sail from Spain, and wheB 
he arrived among the West India islands, we find hiro 
trying to identify the island of Cipango of which Marca 
Polo gave a splendid description. We afterwards find 
him seeking in the island of Cuba, which he supposed, 
from the accounts of the natives, and his own observa- 
tions, to be a part of the main land, for the rich city of 
Cambalu, (Peking,) in the Province of Cathay, the 



147 

winter residence of the Great Khan, and where, accord- 
ing to Marco Polo, was to be seen, "in wonderful 
abundance, the precious stones, the pearls, the silks, and 
the diverse perfumes of the East." 

" The sumptuous descriptions given by Marco Polo," 
says Irving, " of countries teeming with wealth, and 
cities whose very domes and palaces flamed with gold, 
induced Columbus, who was confident of soon arriving 
at these countries, to hold forth those promises of imme- 
diate wealth to the Spanish Sovereigns, which caused 
much disappointment, and brought upon him the fre- 
quent reproach of exciting false hopes and indulging in 
wilful exaggeration." 

" He died," continues Irving, " in ignorance of the 
real grandeur of his discovery. Until his last breath, 
he entertained the idea that he had merely opened a 
new way to the old resorts of opulent commerce, and 
had discovered some of the wild regions of the east. 
He supposed Hispaniola to be the ancient Ophir, which 
had been visited by the ships of Solomon, and that 
Cuba and Terra Firma were but remote parts of Asia. 
In all his voyages he was continually seeking after the 
territories of the Grand Khan, and even after his last 
expedition, when nearly worn out by age, hardships and 
infirmities, he offered in a letter to the Spanish mon- 
archs, written from a bed of sickness, to conduct any 
missionary to the territories of the Tartar Emperor, 
who would undertake his conversion." 

The first Europeans who traded directly with China 
were the Portuguese, who made their appearance at 
Canton in 1 5 1 6, not many years after their celebrated nav- 
igator, Vasco De Gama, discovered the passage around 
the Cape of Good Hope. But it was not until about 
the middle of the 16th century, that they established 
themselves at Macao, for the use of which place they 
still pay a ground rent to the Chinese of 500 taels per 



148 

annum. The only privilege they appear to possess is 
that of governing themselves ; as the Chinese popula- 
tion of the town is entirely under the control of the 
Mandarins. 

The Spaniards soon followed the Portuguese, but they 
have derived less advantage from an intercourse with 
China than most other nations, notwithstanding the vast 
advantage which they possess in the locahty of Manila 
and the Philipine islands, within a few days' sail of Chi- 
na, and approached with equal facility in either mon- 
soon. 

The first attempt made by the English to establish a 
trade with China, was during the reign of Elizabeth, in 
1596, but the vessels sent out were wrecked on the out- 
ward passage, and, owing to the jealousy and misrepre- 
sentations of the Portuguese, their future attempts, and 
those of the E. I. C. were unsuccessful until about the 
beginning of the last century. 

The first American vessel sent out to China, sailed 
from New York in 1784. She was soon followed by 
others, and the trade rapidly increased until 1789, when 
there were more American vessels at Canton than from 
any other country except Great Britain ; and the Ameri- 
can trade with China is now much larger than that of any 
other country except England. The number of ships 
employed by the latter being more than two hundred, 
employing a capital of upwards of ^20,000,000 ; while 
we have about seventy ships in the China trade, and a 
capital of about ^7,000,000. The present total exports 
from China amounts to about ^40,000,000, of which 
about ^15,000,000 worth are teas, over ^14,000,000 
treasure, nearly ^6,000,000 raw silks, silk thread, and 
silk goods; and the balance is cassia, sugar, sugar can- 
dy, lacquered ware, ivory articles, matting, fans, &c. 
&c. The imports, amounting to about the same sum, 
consist of the following articles : opium, rice, treasure 



149 

and pearls, principally the first, which amounts to up- 
wards of ^20,000,000, ginseng ^300,000, raw cotton 
^6,000,000, cotton manufactures and cotton yarn ^4,- 
000,000, woolen manufactures of all kinds ^2,047,000, 
metals of all kinds ^1,500,000, and the balance in other 
goods, such as betel nut, bicho de mar, birds' nests, &.c. 

The goods which we buy from the Chinese are paid 
for partly in cotton goods, ginseng and lead, but princi- 
pally by bills drawn on London bankers, who have 
agencies in the United States to furnish letters of credit 
to foreign traders. They loan nothing but their credit, 
as the bills drawn upon them are made payable far 
enough in advance for the proceeds of the goods for 
which they were drawn to meet them. 

The English, in addition to paying (the Chinese) for 
all the teas, silks, &c. with their cotton, cotton goods, 
and opium, are annually drawing an immense amount 
of the precious metals from China, the proceeds of the 
latter article. 

Formerly, all the business done by China with other 
nations except Russia, was carried on by the Cohong 
or body of Hong merchants, of which nearly every one 
has heard who has heard of China. This body was a 
monopoly established by the government to conduct the 
trade with foreigners, and consisted of a few persons, 
who were allowed to trade singly, although, until 1830, 
the whole body was liable for all the foreign debts of 
each individual. Some of the Hong merchants made 
large fortunes, but they lived in a state of continual un- 
certainty, as having once become members of the Co- 
hong, they were seldom allowed to leave it, unless in 
case of failure, and they were liable to be " squeezed" 
(as the Chinese call it) at any time, by the Mandarins, 
who under various pretexts exacted large amounts from 
them. Some one of the body was obliged to become 
security for the payment of the port charges, duties, and 



good behavior of every vessel entering the port for trade. 
This monopoly vi^as abolished by the treaty between Chi- 
na and Great Britain, and the foreign trade made free 
to all. 

The Chinese have been ridiculed for assuming to be 
the only civilized nation in the world. This assump- 
tion is probably owing to their peculiar institutions. 
They live on the past, we on the future, and conse- 
quently they are not to be judged by our standard. We 
have thousands of presses furnishing information of all 
kinds and from all quarters of the globe, which is dis- 
tributed with astonishing rapidity to every one. They 
have no newspapers except those used for government 
purposes, which have a very limited circulation, and 
information with them, like light from some distant 
world, which may have been blotted from existence for 
years, does not reach the mass of the Chinese until it 
has ceased to be new to the rest of the world. There 
was a time, and that not many centuries since, that the 
Chinese were farther advanced in the arts of civilized 
life than any European nation, and they are still far in 
advance of the rest of Asia. Is it strange then when 
they see the greatest European nation seize upon the 
neighboring country of India and clandestinely flood 
their shores with a drug which destroys thousands, and is 
known to be prohibited by their laws, that they should 
look upon them as barbarians. Is it strange when they 
formerly saw the governments and merchants of foreign 
nations belieing each other and perpetually quarrehng for 
the sake of gain that they should look upon them all with 
suspicion and contempt and call them ^^Fan-qui^s,^^ "for- 
eign devils !" When foreigners first began trading with 
the Chinese, every port was open to their commerce, and 
the trade was free to all ; the country was also open to 
missionaries, and the Catholics converted many thou- 
sands to their faith and stood high in favor with the 
government, but the misconduct of the former caused 



151 

them to be confined in their trade to Canton, and the 
attempts of the latter to interfere with the government 
caused them to be excluded from the country. The 
Chinese have also been denounced for their exclusive- 
ness ; but who can doubt its being the correct policy of 
her rulers to ensure the stability of their government* 
They themselves are foreigners, were invited into the 
Empire to quell a rebelhon, which they did, and then 
took possession, and they well know the danger they 
subject themselves to by the visits of strangers. 

In 1812, according to the best Chinese authority, there 
were in the eighteen provinces of China 360,279,827 
inhabitants, and 2,167,286 in Tartary, subject to the 
Chinese government. As they have had no wars of 
consequence since that time, and the cholera is said to 
have passed lightly over this nation they must now ex- 
ceed 400,000,000. The eighteen provinces contain 
830,719,360 English acres, more than three-fourths of 
which are under cultivation, and with a climate so vari- 
ous, that everything they wish for is produced by them- 
selves, they need not and care not for foreign com- 
merce. 

Twenty-seven dynasties, furnishing two hundred and 
forty-three sovereigns including the present and ex- 
cluding those considered mythological by the Chinese 
themselves, have swayed the destinies of China for 
more than 4,600 years. Well may the Tartar and his 
subjects be proud of the throne upon which he sits unri- 
valled as it stands in the annals of the world, and with- 
out boasting can they point to its antiquity, and that of 
their laws and customs, founded prior, or at least coeval 
with the Empire of Babylon, the very site of whose 
greatest city, with its stupendous walls and hundred 
gates of brass, is now a matter of doubt. 

Other great empires and kingdoms have risen and 
flourished for a season, but where are they ? Go seek 



152 

their history among the pyramids and ruins of splendid 
edifices, the equals of which the world may never see 
again. 

The most powerful modern kingdoms of Europe arc 
but of yesterday compared with China. While they 
count their existence by hundreds, she reckons hers by 
thousands of years, and is now in the enjoyment of a 
green old age under the administration of laws founded 
upon the precepts of her sages. 



FEB 27 1947, 



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